A Horse With No Name
by JonaBee
Summary: Kiss of death, kiss of marriage, kissed by a witch... Wait, what's that last one? They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ranma only wanted to help. Now she's a magical girl. See what we mean?
1. Chapterlog 01: Squirrel Contracting

A Horse With No Name, by Jonakhensu and Weebee.

Disclaimer: We don't own Madoka or Ranma. Kyubey offered us a contract to gain the ownership rights, but the fine print was a killer.

Hello. Before we get started, a couple notes. First, this story contains spoilers for the PMMM anime, which should also be noted is the only continuity we're using. Nothing from Kazumi Magica or anywhere else.

Second, a note to Madoka fans who read this fic. Our usual Ranma fanbase doesn't have to read this. I've heard a lot of comparisons between this show and Evangelion. While we're not going to go into most of them, one we're absolutely sure is true is a tendency for fanfics, especially crossover or SI fanfics, to fix everything and make everything super happy with little regard to plausibility or themes. For this fic, a warning and an assurance. The ending is... going to be on about the same level of bitter-sweetness as Madoka's own. The new character will solve some problems, but cause others. Having said that, we aren't the best writers and like sticking humor in odd places, so make of that what you will.

At any rate, enough yammering. On with the show!

Chapterlog 0/1: Squirrel Contracting.

"Three days," Ranma Saotome muttered to himself, taking another random left turn onto a street he didn't recognize in a city that was… south. Honestly he'd feel a little like Ryoga right now, if not for the fact that he was losing himself deliberately. He'd been surprised when his mother and Mr. Tendo had agreed to allow him this two week training trip to clear his head and try to figure out what to do about his many engagement issues, and had been even more surprised when Akane had let him go without an offer to cook him a farewell meal or come along with him… to cook, but even with the uncharacteristically smooth departure, he hadn't managed to figure anything out.

Sometimes he wished he could just punch everyone and get it over with, but for one that wasn't how interpersonal relationships worked, unfortunately, and besides, Cologne could still beat him. Still, he'd been chasing his proverbial tail around in circles and hadn't come up with any better ideas, save maybe walking into the forest one day and just never coming out. He reached out one hand and pushed open a door, barely noticing that he'd gotten out of the sun. That was the obvious solution, of course. All of the issues surrounded him, due to his father's deals or his own stupidity.

If the engagements hadn't been made, or better yet he just didn't exist, no one would be caught up in the tangled mess. Hell, without him to drag all of the weirdos to Nerima, Akane would only have to deal with an idiot kendoist rather than a homicidal bird person or people destroying her home every second week.

He violently shoved open another door, wind blowing on his face impinging on his awareness for only a moment before his thoughts returned to their previous path. It did make sense. He'd gone on this trip to try and find a solution to the problem, and now it seemed so evident. He didn't even have to go back to put it into effect. He raised one foot, stepping onto the narrow ledge that circled the building he was standing on. He could do it… right…. now.

Once again, the wind blew in his face, snapping the black pigtail behind him out to full extension, and he opened his arms wide… only to slam face first into a solid concrete slab. The pain reverberated through his body, suddenly snapping him out of the fugue he'd been in, and he rolled sideways, reaching one hand up to clutch at his bloody nose. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, the sound muffled by his cupped hand.

"A-are you all right?" a concerned female voice asked, and he blinked, turning his head and tracking up a pair of legs, rapidly past things he'd be smacked for admitting he'd seen, to a girl who seemed a few years younger than he was, wearing a school uniform. The bright pink hair was a bit startling, but, living in Nerima, not very.

"I'm fine," he said, wincing at the pain in his nose when he tried to breathe through it. It'd definitely suck if it was broken again.

"It's amazing that you're moving after a fall like that," another girl interjected, coming up behind the first. This one was wearing a bright yellow skirt, a corset, and blonde hair in one of the most impractical styles the pigtailed martial artist had ever seen, which was saying something. "Madoka, you should call the ambulance."

"No, I'm fine, really," Ranma said, pushing himself to his feet and suppressing a wince. "Really don't know why I didn't brace for that fall, but I'll be fine."

"You're… sure?" the yellow dressed girl asked, giving him a strange look.

"Yeah, it's not a problem see?" Ranma replied, jumping in place a couple of times.

"All right, if you're sure…" the blonde replied. "Madoka, we should get going."

"Right," the pink haired one confirmed, the two walking into the building he'd just fallen off of.

"Wait, where's my…" Ranma started, feeling for the straps that had been over his shoulders. "Did I take it off before I... " He shook his head. Why HAD he jumped off of the building, exactly? He'd trained at similar heights, but doing such a thing in the middle of a city was usually a bad idea, since outside of Nerima or similar places it would get you some very strange looks.

He'd been thinking about the fiancee mess back home, and then he'd… decided it would be solved if he wasn't around. A shiver went down his spine. He'd jumped off of the building in order to try to kill himself, but that didn't make any sense. For one, it probably wouldn't solve all of the problems, especially since he'd be dead, and for another, a drop like that couldn't kill him unless he was asleep, and probably not even then, given his father's insistence on sleep-combat training.

That meant… what, there was a ghost or something throwing people off buildings? ...And those two girls had just gone in there. "Shit!" Ranma yelled, dashing towards the entrance. "Don't go in there, it's dangerous!"

Entering the atrium, he saw no sign of either of the girls, and couldn't hear any footsteps in the quiet building, though he did see his pack propped next to the doorway. "Hello?" he called, quickly swinging the pack into place. "Anyone there?" Ranma tried again, walking forward and up the staircase in the middle of the room. He listened carefully, even focussing on the danger sense that informed him of sneak attacks in hopes he might be able to pick up their presence, only to stop on a landing that lead to a second staircase, as something felt strange.

"What?" he asked, squinting at empty air. To his extra senses, it was like there was something there, but visually there was nothing. Waving his hand through the space with no effect, he concentrated a small amount of energy into his hand, and a circular portal abruptly sprang open. "Gah!" he yelped, almost falling down the stairs before steadying himself.

"This… is probably a bad idea," he muttered, squinting into the portal, but unable to see what was beyond. Well, he'd come this far and those girls were still missing. Firming his resolve, he stepped forward and through the portal, only to have the world apparently try and turn upside down. He was blinded by a veritable explosion of random color before his eyes started to make sense of things.

"Crap, did I wander into Kodachi's garden again?" he said, baffled, before hearing what sounded like gunfire from further ahead. Hurrying up the stairs towards the sound, he passed numerous mustachioed cotton balls growing out of butterflies that were passing roses around. Since they were leaving him alone, he decided to do the same as he continued towards the landing. Once he reached the landing, flying multi-eyed icecream cones, also with mustaches, charged towards him. "Okay, never mind Kodachi's garden, did I eat Akane's cooking first?"

As one of the smaller ice-cream-cone… eye… things passed him, it seemed to explode into vines that wrapped themselves around his arm. Irritably, he yanked pulling the thing along for a couple of meters before the vines tore free. He picked up speed, running through several open doors and thankful for the gunfire as there were a couple of false paths and several turns.

The ice-cream cone things kept trying to catch him, and even the butterfly puff balls tried to get in his way a few times, but rapid dodging kept him clear until one flew directly at his face. He brought up an arm to try and bat it away, but the hand seemed to pass right through it, right up until it exploded into another mass of vines and caught his arm.

Tearing free again, he frowned. These things weren't really a threat, but they were slowing him down and he was pretty sure the gunfire didn't bode well for particularly anything. "If chi helped me open this thing, then…" He muttered, concentrating and producing a small confidence fueled battle aura. When he tried to knock one of the butterfly-things away this time, it worked.

Grinning, he started moving straight forward and knocking anything that got in his way aside. It made him feel a bit like Ryoga, actually, just plowing through. Running through several open doors, he emerged into a large, domed room. He finally spotted the pink haired girl standing just past the door and looking up at the blonde, who was leaping through the air, the gunfire coming from rifles that she appeared to be summoning into existence, firing, and then dropping. "What in the…" Ranma muttered, walking up to the girl at the door.

The girl yelped like a scared puppy, turning towards him to reveal that she was holding a small animal in her arms that he hadn't seen before. It looked sort of like a ca… ca... squirrel, with unusually long ears coming out of more normally sized triangular ones and a red teardrop outline on its back.

"How did you get in here?" The voice was not the girl's, and the creature was studying him intently.

"That's a really good question," Ranma replied, studying the acrobatic gunslinger. "How is she doing that?"

"She's a magical girl, it's what she does," the sourceless voice said again. "Now, how did you get in here?"

"The door," Ranma snarked casually, noting the little animal's tail flipping in irritation. "Since when are magical girls and mind-talking animal mascots real?" He looked around. "Though this place'd make a lot more sense if it came outta a shojo manga."

"It's hard to explain, but you should really…" the pink haired girl started, before the blonde slipped up, a tendril of dark energy from the thing she was fighting wrapping around her and pulling her higher into the air.

Ranma cursed under his breath, cupping his hands and concentrating. A ball of blue energy sprang to life between his palms, but was tinged green at the edges. "Moko Takabisha!" he yelled, and the ball flew into the air, only to waver and pop out of existence seconds later.

"You're a life force user," the little animal's voice interjected. "Witches can absorb life force. You won't be very effective in here."

Ranma didn't listen, leaping up himself as the blonde girl struggled,closing his hands around the vine that held her and tugged. As he did so, however, his stomach turned, and he felt something go wrong. The aura that he'd been keeping around his hands since he'd first figured out that it worked was rapidly turning from blue to green, and as he let go of the vine as if it were on fire, wisps of black began appearing at the edges. Pulling the power back into his body, his stomach flipped again, and he completely failed to control his landing on the floor below.

"Wh… what?" he gasped, as a crushing weight seemed to descend. The little squirrel thing had warned him, he should have listened, but he always charged in without thinking, and a lot of the time got pummeled for it. Why was he such a… No! He hauled himself to his knees as the magical girl landed next to him.

"Quickly, get out of here!" she commanded.

"This thing ain't gunna beat me, no matter how much it screws with my head!" Ranma growled back. He could feel it, chi that represented the deepest depression and despair circling through his body, but it'd been artificially generated. He wasn't nearly as pathetic as Ryoga. Still, he knew what to do with depression chi. "Bet'cha can't swallow this!" he yelled, pointing his hands up into the air. "Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan!"

He honestly hadn't been sure if the depression had been deep enough, but the green power exploded from his body and slammed into the creature, lifting it into the roof. Several cracks ran through the dome, before the blast dissipated. Wait, that wasn't right, was it? It was supposed to come back… "Aw shit…" There was a flash of green and roiling black, before he was engulfed in yellow and flying through the air. When the world stopped spinning, he was laying on the ground next to the pink haired girl, and there was a mass of vines at least eight feet wide where he and the magical girl had been.

"Mami!" the pink haired girl screamed, falling to her knees beside him.

"What?" He shook his head.

"You fed a witch pure despair energy, what did you think would happen?" the squirrel-thing asked rhetorically.

"Kyubey, is Mami…" the pink haired girl started.

"I've lost all contact with her; she's most likely dead," Kyubey replied. "Madoka, with how much energy that witch got she'll be distracted dealing with it for a few minutes, but I need to make a contract with you or the witch is going to destroy us."

"A contract?" the girl, Madoka, asked. "But Mami just… I…." She curled in on herself. "I…." she stammered.

"Madoka!" Kyubey said, urgently, but the girl didn't move.

"This contract thing," Ranma started, slowly. "It would let her kill that thing?" He gestured at the mass of vines.

"Yes, if she contracts with me she can become a magical girl and save us," Kyubey replied. "But she has to-"

"Can I do it?"

The animal looked at him, askance. "They're called 'magical girls' for a reason," it said slowly. "Only females can contract."

"Right," Ranma said, reaching backwards and fumbling at a side pouch of his backpack. Producing a half-crushed small plastic bottle, he opened it and dumped it over his head, triggering his Jusenkyo curse. "Contract. Now."

For the first time the pigtailed martial artist had seen, Kyubey's mouth opened in shock. "How…" it asked, looking over the red haired girl that had replaced the male martial artist. Composing himself, he nodded. "Yes, I can contract with you, I think. You… need to make one wish. Any wish at all."

"A wish, huh?" Ranma asked, looking between the still huddling Madoka and the vines, from which she thought she could see a small trickle of blood exiting. Normally, an offer for a wish would either get the automatic 'A cure to my curse' response or her running the other way, depending on how dubious it seemed, but she was pretty sure curing the curse wouldn't be viable in this case, and she was kind of in a hurry, especially since she saw the vines begin to move.

Taking a breath, she spoke. "I wish I had the power to make sure this," she gestured at the base of the vines, "didn't happen again and that no one from Nerima would get involved."

Kyubey nodded. "The contract has been formed." His long ears plunged forward, and Ranma had to resist the urge to deflect them as they stabbed into her chest, a fiery sensation expanding out from where they contacted, before pulling back in with a sudden sense of dislocation. She fell backwards, her hands moving to her chest where something solid formed between them.

"That was different," she muttered, holding up the object that had formed, and blinking at a small, blue, egg-shaped gem in a gold setting, a curved teardrop in a ring affixed to the top.

"Hurry! Concentrate on your soul gem to transform!" Kyubey's insistent voice penetrated her study of the object. "You'll know what to do!"

Ranma didn't respond verbally, leaping to her feet and holding the gem between both hands as its blue glow increased. A flash of light later, she found her right hand grasped around a tonfa, and her left stretched forward, several of the witch's roots smashing into an invisible barrier in front of her.

"Tonfa, huh?" she asked, flipping the weapon once in her hand. Dismissing the barrier, she leapt at the vines, and the witch hiding behind them. Smashing through the vines proved easy enough, and fortunately the creature seemed incapable of growing them back nearly as fast as it had created them in the first place.

When she caught sight of the witch itself, it was obvious that it had seen better days, its body almost squished. She frowned as she leapt from one vine to the next. She couldn't hit it with an Amaguriken, that attack tended to bleed a lot of chi, but hopefully normal strikes would do. Bringing her right arm down in an overhand smash, the tonfa held outward, the wooden weapon extended, smashing the witch across its top surface.

"Geez, this thing's a regular swiss army knife, ain't it?" Ranma asked, retracting the tonfa and swinging her arm around the other way, only to extend it again, magnifying her striking force. Given the witch's weakened state, it only took a couple more strikes before it folded in on itself, vanishing, a black ball on a spindle dropping from it.

Ranma grabbed the object, unsure if it was important, before leaping clear of the vine she'd been standing on as it disintegrated, landing next to Kyubey and the still huddling Madoka. She almost wasn't surprised when the colorful landscape around them began to vanish to reveal a balcony, the red glare of sunlight filtering in.

"So what now?" she asked, uncertain. Hearing Madoka's sniffling, she knelt down in front of her. "Are you… no, that's a stupid question…" She reached out a hand tentatively and rested it on the younger girl's shoulder, surprised when the hand was suddenly grabbed tightly, and Madoka threw herself into her chest. "H-hey now, it's okay, I mean…" Ranma said, lamely.

"Mami's dead, and… and you had to contract to save me, and…" the pink haired girl babbled.

"Mami Tomoe is dead?" Ranma looked up to see a girl with long black hair, wearing a school uniform, step out of a shadowed alcove. "I didn't think she could be taken down by a witch this weak."

"Homura?" Madoka asked, looking nervously over Ranma's shoulder.

"Did you make a contract?" the black haired girl asked coldly.

"I did," Ranma replied.

"But Madoka didn't. Good." Homura tilted her head to the side slightly. "As for you, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well punching it didn't work," Ranma replied, and then gulped. "It… got that Mami girl killed."

Homura raised an eyebrow. "You punched it?"

Ranma fidgeted. "Yeah."

"That explains a lot," Homura sighed. "It's too bad you have so little common sense."

Ranma clenched her teeth, but couldn't respond. The black haired girl had a point, after all.

"You shouldn't say that," Madoka broke in. "She tried really hard, and saved me from the witch when I couldn't do anything."

Homura didn't bother replying, turning and walking back into the darkness from which she'd come, her hair blowing in the breeze.

The area descended into an uncomfortable silence for the next few moments, until Ranma broke it. "So, um, Madoka, can I help you get home, or…"

"You should probably purify your soul gem and change back first," Kyubey said.

Ranma blinked. "Purify it?"

"Using magic taints your soul gem," Kyubey explained. "You can use grief seeds, like the one you picked up after destroying the witch, to purify it."

"Oh, uh…" Ranma patted herself down, and for the first time took note of what she was wearing. It wasn't as bad as she'd expected when she'd heard the words 'magical girl,' or seen Mami for that matter, but still wasn't great.

Her red chinese shirt had only changed slightly, the cut altered to fit her female form more closely and the ties up the front vanishing. The sleeves were slightly shorter, only going halfway down her upper arms, but her bracers had extended almost to the elbow and were a deeper red. The front and back of the shirt now fell downward into loose flaps of fabric over black slacks, with black boots reaching half way up her calves.

"At your throat," the small animal said, somehow managing to give off the impression that he thought she was an idiot without changing expression.

"Oh," Ranma muttered, feeling her throat, where there was a cloth choker attached to her shirt, the hard mass of the gem at its front.

"If you press a grief seed to it, either while transformed or in your normal form, it will purify it. If the grief seed fills, give it to me for disposal."Kyubey spoke slowly, and Ranma's eyebrow twitched.

"And how do I get outta this thing?" she asked, irritably.

"You just have to will yourself out of it," Kyubey said. "You can also change your soul gem into a ring to keep better track of it."

"Thanks… I think," Ranma said, closing her eyes. Her magical girl outfit vanished in favor of regular clothes a moment later, though something seemed a bit off. Opening her eyes again, she looked down and blinked. "Why am I wearing her school uniform shirt?" she asked, tugging at the collar.

"I have no idea," Kyubey responded, surprising Ranma, who had expected another 'obvious' answer.

"You don't know?" the redhead asked, nervously. She wasn't wearing the uniform's ridiculously short skirt, thank goodness, wearing a pair of tan slacks instead, but it was still pretty disconcerting, especially since her wallet had been in her pants' pocket.

Kyubey took up a pensive position. "It could have something to do with your wish," he offered.

"What about wishing to be able to defeat monsters would switch my clothes?" Ranma demanded.

"That isn't what you wished for," Kyubey corrected. "You wished to be able to stop any more deaths like Mami Tomoe's, and to stop people from Nerima from fighting witches, for some reason."

"Great, more crap to figure out," Ranma complained. Shrugging, she willed her soul gem into its ring form on her left middle finger. Looking at it, she saw a blue ring and teardrop mark on the fingernail. "Madoka," she said, turning to the girl who was still sitting on the floor, staring into her lap. "My offer's still open, you want help getting home?"

"No, I'll be fine," the girl said, quietly.

"You're sure?" Ranma asked.

"I'll make sure she gets home safely," Kyubey said, hopping onto the younger girl's shoulder as she turned and walked into the building.

HR.

"God damned stupid… gah!" Ranma yelled, partaking in one of Akane and Ryoga's favored activities and beating the crap out of something. Fortunately, the thing in question was a large tree and nothing terribly breakable, or at least important, but she was making an appreciable dent in the trunk. "Of course this happened, why wouldn't it? 'They're called magical girls for a reason,'" she punched the tree again, and slumped down to the base.

"So, great," she growled. "I'm locked… again, my backpack vanished into nowhere when I did the transformation thing, my wallet's got completely different I.D. in it, including a student card for Mitakihara Middle School, and I've got a grand total of 2000 yen." She had the good sense not to ask if it could get any worse, but reality didn't seem to care as a ringing sound came from one of her pants' pockets. Reaching in and pulling out a bright red cell phone with a green flower on the back, she squinted at it for a moment, finding the talk button.

"Hello?" she asked, cautiously.

"Rei? Are you all right?" a woman's voice came across the line, sounding distinctly worried. "You missed dinner and didn't call. Did anything happen?"

"Erm… who's Rei?" Ranma asked. "Is this her phone?"

"Rei, are you trying to make a joke?" the voice on the other side of the phone demanded, sounding slightly less worried and a little angry. "You know those types of jokes aren't funny."

"I don't know what you're talkin about," Ranma insisted. "I just found this phone in my pocket. I don't know who this Rei is."

"Oh no… did you lose your memory again?" the woman asked. "Where are you? I'll come pick you up."

"Look, if ya want the phone back, I can come…" Ranma started.

"Forget about the phone!" the woman yelled. "Where are you?"

"A couple kilometers south of Mitakihara city limits, but I…"

"Near the highway?" Ranma was getting tired of being interrupted.

"Look, who are you, anyways?" the redhead finally asked.

"I'm your mother," the woman said, her previous loud outburst giving way to a choked strain that the pigtailed martial artist knew well as one of her greatest enemies, a crying girl.

"Ah… look," she said, trying to figure out what to say. "I'm not this Rei person you think I am."

"You're four foot eleven inches, you've got bright red hair and blue eyes, right? Please, just wait at the side of the highway for me."

"Fine, I'll wait for you," Ranma sighed. It was unlikely that some random crazy woman could incapacitate her, anyways, and something strange had happened to give her this Rei's phone.

"Thank goodness," the woman said, and the phone went dead.

"Squirrel, what'd you do?" Ranma muttered, putting the cell phone away. Retrieving her wallet, which was not her wallet, she pulled out the student card, studying the picture of her own face, next to a set of details. "Rei Asuka, 9th grade, age 17."

"Grade 9?" she asked, frowning down at the card. "Least they got the age right."

Pulling the phone out again, she dialed a number quickly and waited for someone to pick up on the other end. "Hello?" A pleasant female voice said, after three rings.

"Kasumi," Ranma sighed in relief. "It's me, is Akane there?"

"Me?" Kasumi returned. "I'm sorry miss, but I don't recognize your voice."

The redhead's stomach clenched. "It's Ranma. Y'know, Ranma Saotome?"

"Saotome? Oh my, you don't sound very much like a boy…" there was silence for a few moments. "That was rude, I'm sorry. Is this Mr. Saotome's son?"

"Yeah…" Ranma said, as she began to head towards the road. "You… haven't met me before, have you?"

"No, I'm afraid not, though I'm sure Mr. Saotome will be happy to know you contacted us," Kasumi chirped happily. "He's been looking for you."

Ranma grunted noncommittally. "Yeah, thanks."

"Is something wrong?" Kasumi asked.

"No, nothing," Ranma replied, pressing the end call button and letting her arm fall to her side. "Damn it, squirrel." She spent the next ten minutes thinking, but nothing really leapt out at her. The squirrel had said that her wish might have had something to do with her change of clothes, and in that case it probably had something to do with the cellphone and different identification, too, though she had no idea what.

"I wish I had the power to make sure this didn't happen again and that no one from Nerima would get involved," she repeated. She was interrupted as a compact car slid to a stop on the shoulder of the highway, and a slim brown haired woman sprang out of the driver's seat.

"Rei, thank goodness you're all right," the woman said, relieved, grabbing Ranma in a hug. For her part, the martial artist froze. True, the woman was substantially older, and less extremely built than Shampoo, but a glomp was a glomp. Pushing her back slightly, the woman began inspecting her, running one hand through her hair as though checking for head injuries.

"Hey, ya mind!" Ranma snapped, batting her hands away.

"Right," the woman said, stepping back. "You… really don't recognize me?"

Ranma scratched the back of her neck. "No, sorry."

"No…" the older woman said, reaching one hand up to wipe at her eyes. "They told me they didn't know what had caused it, so it could happen again, but we were…."

"Woah, slow down a bit," Ranma interrupted. "What happened? I get there's somethin' weird going on, but I'm not entirely sure what." She was pretty sure mentioning a magical mutant squirrel and Kodachi's garden would be a bad idea, but things were strange either way.

"Do you remember anything? Do you know your name?" the woman asked, ignoring the question.

"I'm Ranma Saotome," the redhead replied. "Real sorry 'bout this."

HR.

"So… you found me wanderin' around with no idea who I was?" Ranma asked, climbing out of the car in a parking garage.

The older woman nodded. "An old couple found you. I was one of the first responders when they called an ambulance, since you were pretty out of it."

"Yeah I guess, if I didn't even remember my own name," Ranma agreed. "But that doesn't really match with what I remember of the last two years."

"Well, um," the older woman said, sounding reluctant, "what you remember involves Chinese Amazons and multiple engagements. It's… a little extraordinary."

"You think I'm nuts," Ranma said, flatly.

"I just… think maybe we should go and see your doctor tomorrow, that's all," the older woman said, attempting to be diplomatic.

"I'd be offended," Ranma replied, "But about half the time I wonder if I'm nuts too."

HR.

"Are you done?" the red haired girl asked, tapping the haft of her spear against her shoulder.

"You only need to be patient a little longer," Kyubey replied, walking at her feet. "Could you do me a favor and throw your spear at that building?"

"Whatever you say," the girl responded, sticking a new piece of pocky in her mouth and hefting the weapon. Normally she prefered keeping it in her hands, but if this would get the damned bunnycat to stop bugging her, she would do it. Pulling her arm back, she let the spear fly, and had to step aside a moment later as the tip hit empty air and deflected back towards her. "What the heck was that?" she demanded.

"Use a more powerful attack," Kyubey ordered.

"Oh, and who's gunna purify my soul gem if I do, you?" the girl snorted.

"You aren't very cooperative, Kyoko Sakura," Kyubey complained.

"I only came out here with you because you said one of the better areas has lost its guardian," the girl replied. "I helped, so tell me who and where, already. Riding the train back home' this late's not going to be fun."

"Fine," the small animal sighed. "You've earned that, I suppose. Mami Tomoe has fallen."

"W… what?" Kyoko asked. "How? She could kick some serious ass, but… that means Mitakihara's free?"

"Not entirely free," Kyubey countered. "There's one magical girl there I'm not too sure about, but she will probably leave you alone, and of course the new one Mami Tomoe died to save."

"So that's how she bought it, huh?" Kyoko tilted her head to the side a bit. "I guess I could pay a visit."

"Good," Kyubey nodded. "I'm glad I could help you."

The girl turned and began walking off, before turning back. "You coming?"

"I'll find you later," the white-furred animal responded, gazing across the roofs of the Nerima district of Tokyo.

HR.

"There's nothing wrong with her," a grey haired man in a white doctor's coat said, sitting across from a brown haired woman in a small office. "Her EEG is normal. We found evidence of old breaks in her bones that weren't there in her last X-rays, but no new injury that would explain this, just like last time."

"You found… old breaks? How old?" the woman asked.

"That's the strange thing, erm, one of the strange things," he fiddled with some papers on his desk. Several of them predate x-rays we've taken that don't show their existence, and her muscle density has increased since last time we checked, substantially."

"I thought you said it was abnormally high before?" the woman asked.

"It was," the doctor nodded. "Now, it's… impossible."

"Wonderful," the woman rubbed her forehead. "Now I'm sort of wondering if what she told me yesterday was actually true."

"What did she tell you?" the doctor asked.

"She said she remembers her name, it's Ranma Saotome, and that she's a martial artist. She… seemed to think that explained her strength and other abilities."

"I… see," the doctor nodded again. "That is… dubious."

"I'm going to track down the name, but the other details of the story seemed far fetched as well," the brown haired woman agreed.

"This… may not be a medical issue," the doctor offered. "It's happened twice and we haven't been able to find any physical signs, at least any that made sense. Rei could be suffering from some sort of psychological illness. That still doesn't explain the suddenly appearing old wounds, though, and given her other affliction changing at the same time..." He tossed up his hands. "Given this patient, it could be a magical demon for all we know."

"So… you have no idea," the woman summed up.

The doctor nodded, somewhat shamefaced. "I might suggest a second opinion from a psychiatric specialist."

"Or a priest," the woman joked.

"Or that, yes," the doctor agreed.

HR.

"So, they think I'm nuts too," Ranma summed up, as she and the woman who claimed to be her mother walked out of the hospital.

"Or possessed," she nodded. "You've always been a bit of a troublesome case, but Dr. Shinbo seemed a bit more lost than usual this time."

"I can't believe they've had records of my curse and stuff for over a year and haven't tried to carve me up or somethin' by now," Ranma replied.

"It's pretty rare for that to happen to humans," the older woman said with a sort of half smile. "The last one screamed too much."

"You... really think that's funny," Ranma said, shaking her head.

"Rei would've laughed," the older woman said, and then looked away as the two walked across a bridge over a busy street. "Took her a while to get used to my sense of humor before, though."

"So, you believe I'm not her?" Ranma asked.

"I'm not really sure what to believe," the brown haired woman sighed. "But it's easier to treat you like a different person when you obviously don't want to be treated like her."

"Geez," Ranma pulled her pigtail self-consciously, "I'm sor…" she stopped dead as her vision blurred. A black haired girl leapt into the air and then seemed to vanish, appearing ten feet away from where she'd started and turned the other direction. "Homura?" she asked, recognizing the face from the day before. Abruptly, an unusually large ice skate clad girl's foot smashed down where she'd previously been. The girl reached over with her right hand, pulling a large automatic weapon out from behind the shield on her left arm, and started firing it into the air.

When the weapon's magazine clicked on empty, Homura discarded it and teleported again, the image tilting crazily to follow her. When she came back into view, she was holding a large rocket launcher. Ranma's eyes widened as the girl aimed it right at her and pulled the trigger.

"Rei! What are you doing?!" She abruptly came back to reality, finding that she was in mid-air, and falling towards the street.

"Crap," she muttered, hitting the ground as she heard several sets of screeching tires, rolling forward into a leap that carried her clear of the road and to the sidewalk nearby.

"Rei!" an angry voice yelled from the overpass she'd just leapt from, and she saw the woman who claimed to be her mother running along it towards her. She was about to move towards her, when the reverberating sound of a clock chime struck. She looked around for the clock tower, but didn't see one. "What do you think you were doing?" the older woman asked, as she reached Ranma and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"I… saw something," the pigtailed martial artist explained. "It was… weird." She jolted as another chime struck, and this time she was pretty sure she could tell what direction it was coming from. ""Is there a clock tower around here?"

"No," the older woman snapped. "Rei, you're scaring me."

"It's nothing," Ranma said, shaking her head and doing her best to ignore the next chime.

"Nothing," the other shook her head. "You leapt into the middle of the street! From thirty feet up!"

"I've been jumpin' off stuff a lot lately," Ranma muttered.

"What?" the older woman demanded.

"Nothing," Ranma denied quickly as she heard another chime. There was no way she was going to tell someone as high strung as her supposed mother about taking a header from fifty feet up.

"Let's… just go," the older woman seemed to give up for the moment.

"So, what do we do now?" Ranma asked after a few moments of silence save the chiming sounds that only she could hear. Were they getting faster?

"I'll be making that psychologist's appointment," the woman resolved, "Other than that, I don't suppose you remember any of your school work?"

"I went to high school and… wasn't failing too bad," Ranma admitted.

"A high school in Nerima," the other countered. "I've heard stories about that place."

Ranma shrugged. "The teachers ain't that bad… except for Ms. Hinako on a sugar high, or that time Principal Kuno forced 'em all to dress in animal costumes and ambush us. Mr. Higurashi couldn't hold a piece of chalk right for a week."

The older woman twitched. "I'm.. really hoping you're just making that up, but it matches what I've heard."

"Yeah," Ranma moved one hand up to her temple. Yes, the chimes were getting faster. Fortunately they were quiet enough that she could hear other things past them, but by this point they were near constant, and it was getting… "It stopped."

Her walking companion gave her an odd look. "What stopped?"

"Hehehe, nothing, Ms. Asuka," Ranma laughed nervously. "Wanna go get some ice-cream?"

The other considered for a moment. "I haven't failed to notice your obvious subject change, but I'm hungry."

HR.

"Madoka." The pink haired girl stopped, looking back down the street to see Homura walking towards her. "I wanted to speak to you."

"H-Homura," Madoka replied. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday," the black haired girl said, walking to the edge of the sidewalk and looking over the small steel barrier at the city beyond.

"Mami…" Madoka choked, joining the other girl at the rail. Homura didn't say anything, waiting. "That boy tried to help, he didn't know what was going on…" Madoka started.

Homura blinked. "Boy?"

"Yeah," Madoka replied. "It was so strange. First he jumped off the building, but wasn't badly hurt, then he followed us into the labyrinth and helped Mami fight the witch."

"Madoka, the only people in that labyrinth were you, Mami Tomoe, Kyubey, and Miss Asuka, the girl who contracted."

"Asuka?" Madoka shook her head. "The one who contracted was the boy." She was immediately met by Homura's incredulous look, though it was difficult to see on her normally impassive face. "I know it's strange, but he turned into a girl when Kyubey explained that he could only make contracts with girls."

Homura's incredulity got deeper. "I don't want to doubt your word, Madoka, but I saw the four of you enter the labyrinth, and Asuka-san was female when she entered. The person who jumped from the top of the building was a woman, and Mami caught her with her ribbons."

"But I saw…" Madoka objected, quietly.

"You remember things differently from how Madoka and I do?" Homura turned to see Kyubey casually walking along the top of the barrier.

"So you saw a boy turn into a girl as well?" Homura asked flatly, her eyes narrowing at the white-furred creature.

"I did," he nodded. "It was fascinating; I wonder how you would shift so much mass at once without any detectable magic use?"

"What game are you trying to play, Incubator?" the black haired girl demanded.

Kyubey flicked his tail, wrapping it around his side. "No game."

"This hasn't happened before," Homura spoke mostly to herself. "Do you know what this boy's wish was?"

"I-I wasn't really able to hear it," Madoka admitted, and Homura turned her gaze to Kyubey.

"The main focus of her wish was to gain the power to fight witches," he responded.

"I see." Homura's eyes narrowed further before she turned, starting to walk away.

"Wait," Madoka interrupted. "If you were watching, why didn't you come and help Mami?"

"She shouldn't have had a problem defeating that witch, as I said," Homura answered. "I didn't want to give her the impression that I was going to work with her normally."

"Why?" Madoka demanded.

"Mami Tomoe lets her emotions dictate her actions far too much," Homura responded. "Really, this was the best outcome she could hope for."

"When you talked to me that night," Madoka asked, her voice quavering. "Was… this what you meant?"

"Yes," Homura said shortly before walking off, leaving Madoka to cry over the barrier.

HR.

"I suppose I didn't tell you how to find witches, so this is to be expected," a voice cut through Ranma's thoughts as she lay in the bed in Rei's room at Ms. Asuka's apartment, staring at the ceiling and fidgeting with her soul gem ring.

"So you finally showed up again, huh squirrel?" the pigtailed martial artist asked.

"I'm called Kyubey," the creature in question replied. "I came here to teach you how to do your job as a magical girl."

"Might as well do something," Ranma sat up. "All Ms. Asuka's got planned for me tomorrow's school."

"Humans tend to value that, don't you?" Kyubey asked.

"Some of us," Ranma replied. "Weren't you gunna teach me how to find witches?"

"Correct," Kyubey leapt down from the window ledge he'd previously been sitting on. "You should be able to find a witch using your soul gem. All we need to do is go out and walk around until it begins to glow."

"That easy, huh?" Ranma asked, sarcastically. "Any idea where we're going?"

"Mami always used to check places where human despair tends to be at its highest," the animal explained. "Places where people get into fights, commit suicide, hospitals."

"Hospitals," Ranma muttered, before shaking her head. "Definately not gunna feel guilty about killin' these things."

"Well?" Kyubey asked. "Will you go?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ranma waved her hand. "Just lemme get dressed first."

HR.

"Would you just die already?!" Ranma yelled, bringing her extended tonfa around for another strike, sending the creature, which looked vaguely like a spinning top strapped to an anemone flying into a wall. It rebounded off of it and back at her, but crashed against her invisible barrier, expending its force, though annoyingly it refused to fall to the ground, just floating in place.

"Do these things ever feel like actually obeying gravity?" the irritated redhead demanded, lowering the barrier and swinging again.

"Very rarely," Kyubey contributed from where he was standing off to one side.

"Fine, then how about this?" Ranma yelled, clenching one hand over the other around the tonfa's grip and bringing it down as hard as she could. The creature she was fighting promptly began to break apart, its labyrinth fading as well.

"Huh," Ranma blinked, looking around. "No grief seed?"

"This was just a familiar actually," Kyubey explained. "It broke away from its parent witch."

"I'm guessing something bad woulda happened if I'd let it run around?" Ranma asked.

"It would have killed humans until it gained enough power to become a witch itself," Kyubey nodded.

Ranma winced. "Okay, so kill 'em still, got it."

Kyubey nodded again. "Should we go on?" Ranma deactivated her transformation, squinting at her soul gem.

"Thought you said this thing darkens as I use power?" she asked.

"It does," Kyubey confirmed. "Though aside from your barrier, you've been mostly using muscle and your weapon."

"Yeah, I-" Ranma started, before the scene shifted. Once again, Homura was visible, running around a forest of large, vertical spikes. "Why do I keep seeing her?" Ranma mumbled, as the girl removed a grenade from behind her shield, pitching it in her direction. Seconds after this, she saw several muzzle flashes from off to one side, and her vision spun to face them.

She supposed the girl had teleported again, but apparently the source of the spikes had somehow predicted this, as one of them slammed itself through one of her legs. She fell forward, several more spikes missing her by inches, before she flickered for a fraction of a second, and there were abruptly at least six pipe bombs in mid-air. The redhead returned to the present with a jolt as the weapons went off.

"Who do you keep seeing?" Kyubey asked, curiously. Ranma only responded by scooping him into her arms and beginning to run. "Where are we going?"

"Not sure," the pigtailed martial artist responded as the first chime went off, abruptly changing direction to follow it. "Gunna find out soon, though."

HR.

"Now!" Homura spun on one heel as a voice came from behind her, catching sight of a flash of red hair, a spike stopping inches from the other girl's body.

"You," she said, simply.

"Me," the other girl replied with an irritating smirk, as several more spikes slammed against an invisible barrier that surrounded the two. "This thing's pretty mean, huh?"

"I can handle it," Homura replied, flatly.

"Not without losing a leg, you can't," the other girl shot back.

"Hmm, if you say so," Homura nodded.

The redhead blinked. "Usually I get a lot more yellin' than that. Still…" She cracked her knuckles. "I'm gunna let down the shield, get ready."

Homura just grunted, not moving. After a few seconds of this the other girl apparently decided that this was all the preparing she was going to do, and dashed forward, leaping into the air at the witch in the center of the maze, a shadowy mass of spikes with hands coming out of it.

"Why do these things have to look so damned weird?" the redhead complained, striking the witch, though it threw itself backwards with the blow, catching itself on one of the projections that came from the ground and bringing itself back around to attack. Its opponent slid out of its way, walking up the spikes on its body as though they were a ladder and backflipping off before the tonfa she held in her right hand rapidly extended outward, hitting the witch with its end.

Casually, Homura raised her right hand, a pistol appearing in it, and fired several shots past the other magical girl, sending one of the witch's familiars falling to the ground. "If all you can do is fancy acrobatics and hitting it with a stick, I doubt you can handle this witch," she called.

"You were deliberately letting me fight it alone?" the redhead asked, her expression oddly mixed. "Fine, you wanna see something impressive?" Closing her eyes for a moment, the girl's body was surrounded by a blueish aura, the soul gem at her neck shining brightly, and she exploded into motion so quickly that she was difficult for the naked eye to keep track of. There were several loud cracks in rapid succession, and the witch began to wobble in place, hit back and forth so quickly that it couldn't actually go anywhere.

In order to deliver the final blow, the girl stood on top of the witch's body and her tonfa began to glow the same color as the rest of her body, before she drove it downward, right through her opponent. "What'dya think of that?" she panted, hitting the ground in a three point landing as the labyrinth faded.

Homura didn't look impressed. "Have you looked at your soul gem?"

The redhead blinked, willing her gem to come free of its place, and then blinked harder when she caught a look at it. Its bright blue glow had almost completely faded, the inner surface covered in roiling black energy with only a few glimmers of blue remaining. "That should have been using chi," she said, confused. Her eyes widened as Homura shoved a grief seed into her field of vision.

"You should use this before it gets any worse," the other girl ordered.

The redhead shook her head. "I've already got one," she explained, returning to her normal clothing and removing the item from her pocket. Holding it against her soul gem, a black cloud seemed to flow from one to the other, but didn't quite remove all of the darkness from the gem. "Huh?" she asked, looking at the item strangely.

"The grief seed is filled to capacity," Homura explained.

"I'll take that," Kyubey chipped in, leaping to the ground between the two. The redhead shrugged, tossing the blackened object to the creature, who caught it in the teardrop shaped hole that opened on his back.

"You didn't tell her much, did you Incubator?" Homura asked.

Kyubey looked almost offended. "I told her what she needed to know."

"You and I have very different opinions on what she needs to know," the black haired girl scowled.

"I'm standin' right here, you know," the redhead said, irritably.

"Has he told you what happens when your soul gem is completely corrupted? Or what it really is?" Homura demanded.

"I've been wondering, Homura Akemi, where exactly do you get your information?" Kyubey replied. "I don't even recall contracting with you, and contracting with an Incubator is the only way to become a magical girl. Personally, I would take the word of an expert on the subject over a complete unknown quantity."

The redhead shrugged. "Experts on somethin' they're tryin' to recruit you into usually have something to hide," she admitted. "I'm Ranma Saotome," she extended a hand.

"That again," Homura frowned. "Very unusual."

"So what's this thing about soul gems and corruption?" Ranma prompted, dropping her hand after it became evident that Homura wasn't going to take it.

"If your soul gem becomes too corrupt, you'll lose your ability to perform as a magical girl," Kyubey stated.

"Because you'll become a witch, you mean," Homura interjected.

"That isn't what I said at all," the small animal objected.

"But is it true?" Ranma demanded, having been on the receiving end of that dodge from Nabiki.

Kyubey nodded. "It is true, yes."

Ranma growled. "And you didn't think telling me this was a good idea?!"

"We were slightly starved for time," Kyubey responded, reasonably. "If either you or Madoka hadn't contracted, the witch would have killed you."

"I guess you've got a point," the redhead admitted reluctantly. "Anything else you haven't told me about?"

Kyubey made a bit of a show out of thinking, putting one paw up to his chin. "Well, some humans react badly when told that their soul is housed inside of their soul gem in order to keep them safe when in combat with a witch," he offered.

"Y… you told her about that?" Homura stuttered.

"Well of course," Kyubey responded, flicking his tail around his body. "I only wish to keep my relationship with you girls going as smoothly as possible."

"Yeah, well try not to forget to mention anything that important again," Ranma demanded, looking at her soul gem in a cross of horror and curiosity.

"I'll do what I can," the white-furred creature nodded.

"You believe him?" Homura asked, angrily.

"Well, I've had people forget to mention some pretty important stuff before," Ranma replied. "Sometimes it was even unintentional. Besides, if it was me or that pink haired kid, I'd vote me."

"You did it to protect Madoka?" Homura asked.

Ranma responded with a confident smirk. "Well yeah, I'm not gunna let some school kid fight monsters if I'm around to beat 'em up instead."

"Stupid," Homura said succinctly before turning to walk away. When she was almost out of earshot, she turned back. "I thank you for keeping Madoka from contracting, though."

Ranma's shoulders slumped. "I'm never gunna understand girls," she complained. "C'mon, squirrel, and if you've got anything else to tell me, now'd be a good time."

Kyubey leapt up into the redhead's arms. "Nothing else pressing comes to mind," he responded.

"And the non-pressing stuff?" Ranma asked.

"The temperature is currently 5 degrees cooler than I'd prefer," Kyubey responded. "The wind is blowing from the south east at five point three knotts. The colour you humans call magenta is actua-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it!" Ranma interrupted. "Let's just go."

END.

So that's the prologue and/or chapter 1 done. 8.7k words. Not our longest, but still a handful. Before commenting, it should be known that this fic is not on the Anime timeline. Well, technically everything here could be said to happen during episode 10, but still. That means at least some of our errors are intentional. Have fun figuring out which ones!

At any rate, please don't forget to read, review, yell at us for starting another fic, or tell us which characters we've bast- "Hey, what's the big idea!"

Authors: Huh? Aw crap, who let them in? Quick, anyone who, for some reason, cares about spoilers, you might want to leave now.

Disembodied head of Mami: Why'd you guys kill me off in the prologue? At least in the show I had three episodes to be cool in!

Kyoko: Nah, these guys are cool, I showed up in the prologue! No waitin' half the series for me! Now all they've gotta do is not kill me off in episode 9. You'd best not kill me off in episode 9!

Authors: Is episode 8 okay?

Kyoko: No! Never is okay, got it! If you even think of killin' me off, I'll…

Weebee: I thought you said watching Meduka Meguka: The Animation wouldn't screw up our characterizations!

Jonakhensu: Maybe, if we're lucky, we can contain them to the notes?

Mami: I hear you guys whispering over there. You'd better be planning how to bring me back, or I'll Tiro Finale you into next week!

Kyoko: Aw, big talk head girl, I'd like to see you fire a musket without arms.

Mami: I did it in the anime all the time. Two words, fucking ribbons!

Kyoko: You wanna take me on?

Mami: I'll bite your legs off!

Jonakhensu: So how do we get rid of them?

Weebee: Easy. *Snaps fingers*

Charlotte: There is the cheese!

Mami: Gah, not you again!

Kyoko: Hey, get back here! I'm talking to you bitch!

Authors: Sorry about this, folks. Hope it was at least somewhat entertaining, and see you next time.


	2. Chapter 2: Shaken Confidence

Well, here ya go. Lots of end notes, so we won't talk much up here. Enjoy!

Chapter 2? Yeah, 2: Shaken Confidence.

"Wake up!" Ranma grunted, rolling sideways away from the pushing hand. "Re-Ranma, wake up!" She tried to roll again, but this time her tormentor went for another course of action, lifting the mattress and pitching her onto the floor.

"What was that for, ya uncute…" the redhead demanded indignantly, poking her head out of the pile of blankets she was laying in.

"And I thought I looked good today," Ms. Asuka replied, putting a hand on her hip in an over the top pose.

"...Huh?" Ranma blinked rapidly a few times, before memory of the previous day came back. Looking down at her left hand, the mark and ring were still there. "Uh, morning Ms. Asuka," she said, looking blearily up at the older woman.

"Well, you still sleep like you always have," the brunette sighed. "I don't suppose you remembered anything?"

Ranma shook her head, the other's hopeful expression crumbling. "Uh, sorry…" she mumbled in the awkward silence that followed.

Ms. Asuka took a breath. "Don't worry about it; you should get ready for school."

"Look, um, Ms. Asuka," Ranma started cautiously. "I should really…" She stopped for a moment, thinking. Kasumi, when she'd called, hadn't known who she was. Would anyone else? If she left now and tried to just go home, what would she find? "I… need to call someone," she burst out.

The brown haired woman blinked. "Do you need to use the house phone, or…" she asked, confused. Ranma only reached over to the bed stand and picked up her cell phone before dialing the operator.

"Nodoka Saotome, Nerima district," she said clearly. After several clicking sounds and a few rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?" the Saotome matriarch asked.

"Hi," Ranma replied, her voice slightly high with nervousness. "I'm looking for Genma Saotome?"

"Is this about one of his… arrangements?" the woman's voice had abruptly gone from polite to resigned.

Ranma groaned. She hadn't recognized her voice. "Not exactly," she replied. "My… uh, father trained with him and I…"

"Mom? Who is it?" a male voice came from the background.

"Who's that?" the redhead asked, her face going pale.

"Oh, that's my son, Ranma," Nodoka replied, happy again.

"I-is it," the redhead in question stuttered. "Can I talk to him? I… haven't seen him in a while."

"Oh, certainly," Nodoka said, and then everything became muffled as if she were cupping the phone's receiver.

"Hello?" a gruff male voice came on a few seconds later. "Who is this?"

"Ryu…" Ranma growled. "What in the hell do ya think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, who is this again?" the man asked, though he sounded a bit rattled.

"You know exactly what I'm talkin' about Ryu Kumon, now answer the question!"

"Mom, I gotta take this call upstairs," the man said.

"Oh my, well have fun, my manly son," Nodoka said in the background, sounding far too cheerful.

The line went silent for a few moments, before the man growled, "How do you know who I really am?"

"No, I ask the questions first," Ranma shot back. "Why are you still pretending to be m.. to be Ranma? Didn't you find the scroll?"

"I found it," Ryu confirmed, sounding just a bit freaked out. "I'm still here because… look never mind why I'm still here."

"If you don't give me a damned good reason," Ranma growled, "I'm gunna make sure she finds out who you are and she'll probably try and hack your nuts off with her katana."

"Rei!" Ms. Asuka exclaimed, shocked. "You shouldn't be talking to someone like that over the phone!"

"So your name is Rei, eh?" Ryu asked. "Another girl Saotome ripped off, I'd guess. As for why I'm still here… Look, don't get her involved. You want to go after Saotome or his kid, be my guest, but this lady's been through a lot. Not really sure she's mentally stable, given how fast she accepted me as Ranma despite the fact we don't look at all alike."

"So… they never showed up, then?" Ranma swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Not yet, no," Ryu replied. "Given the number of engagement promises the old man made, I'm going to skin him alive when he gets here, though. I got two girls chasing after me right now, and Mo, erm, Nodoka insisting that I should go for both."

"Poor you," Ranma drawled unsympathetically. "Thanks for the information."

"Wait!" Ryu interrupted. "You're not going to…"

"No," Ranma said reluctantly. "I'll keep quiet."

"Well, um, good hunting with Saotome and his kid," Ryu replied, relieved.

"Thanks," Ranma said before hanging up the phone.

"I take it your conversation didn't go well?" Ms. Asuka asked, from where she sat on the bed.

Ranma began disentangling herself from the sheets. "Coulda gone worse."

"What did you find out?" the older woman asked, cautiously.

"I never went to Nerima," the redhead said. "It doesn't make sense, though. I only met Kumon when I was livin' there."

"So what will you do now?"

"I dunno what's going on," Ranma replied, "But… well, things seem to be goin' more your way than mine where reality's concerned right now." She subconsciously rubbed the ring on her left middle finger. "Guess I'm goin' to school."

Ms. Asuka blinked. "I… did not expect you to go with that."

"Got some people there I wanna talk to, anyways," Ranma explained.

The brunette nodded. "Then you should really get cleaned up and dressed, breakfast is on the table."

HR.

Ranma had to give this school one thing. You could be bored out of your mind and watching things other than the teacher much more easily, as the completely glass-enclosed classroom made student watching an easy task. On the other hand, she wanted to stab whoever invented the chairs with one of their back bars.

Fortunately, she'd been ignored by most of her classmates when she'd arrived. Apparently Rei hadn't been very social in school. The class's rumor mill had mostly been wondering about the disappearance of Mami, who shared her home room. Trying to distract herself from another whispered theory from someone a few seats back, she caught a glimpse of pink out of the corner of her eye and tracked it to Madoka, who was walking next to a blue haired girl, the other gesticulating wildly as the pink haired girl just nodded reluctantly.

'I guess she's taking it a little hard,' Ranma thought, before smacking herself on the side of the head. The girl had seen her friend get squashed into a puddle of blood. Hell, the only reason Ranma herself hadn't lost her lunch right then was because of her training, and it was actually sort of a close thing. 'Maybe I should go see how she's doing at lunch?'

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a tap on the shoulder. "You'd better answer," a male voice whispered from behind her. "She's gunna burst a blood vessel."

"Miss Asuka!" the teacher burst out, glaring at the redhead. "I asked you a question."

"Oh, uh…" Ranma scratched the back of her neck. "What was the question again?" She tried to ignore the several snickering students around her.

"I asked if it's a good idea to set a friend up with a blind date, then complain that she has high standards when the man is a total swine!" the teacher demanded.

"I….. uh, what?" Ranma asked, bewildered. "... no, I guess…. not?"

"Exactly!" the older woman yelled, pacing in front of the class and writing the word "STANDARDS" on the board in English. "Do yourselves a favor, girls, ALWAYS have standards. I speak from experience here!"

"Um… teacher," Ranma interrupted. "What does this have to do with English?"

"Ouch, bad call dude," the male student behind her whispered.

"It's an important life lesson for all you girls!" the teacher said, and then aimed the long pointer she carried at the middle of the class, making a wide gesture back to the word on the whiteboard. "You boys should remember it, too. Someone who decided to 'settle' ended up getting married to my bum of a brother, and what did he do? Ran off with their kid twelve years ago! No-chan's just lucky that Ranma came back. As for that no-good older brother of mine? Probably somewhere in Mexico by now!"

Ranma's head slumped to her desk. "Of course she's related to Pop," she muttered sourly as Ms. Saotome's rant continued.

HR.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" Madoka looked up to see a red haired girl standing across the lunch table from her, a heavily loaded platter in her hands.

"N-no, not at all!" she stammered.

Ranma nodded, setting her tray down and taking a seat. "Wanted to see how you were holdin' up," she explained.

"Me?" Madoka asked, surprised. "I'm fine."

"You saw your friend die two days ago, you ain't fine," the redhead said, bluntly. Madoka flinched back as if she had been slapped. "Okay maybe I shouldn't've said it like that," Ranma admitted.

The pink haired girl gulped. "It's… hard to think about," she started. "I keep thinking that if I'd just contracted and helped…"

"You don't know that," Ranma started hurriedly. "I mean, powers seem kinda random. Not really sure where I got a tonfa and shields from. For all you know, you coulda contracted and not gotten anything that would help her."

Madoka looked down, fidgeting with the bow on the front of her shirt. "So… even with magic I might be useless?"

"No, that… well okay, that is what I said, but I was just guessing," Ranma said rapidly, waving her hands in negation. "It's just… I charged into that place tryin' to help, and I'm pretty strong." She puffed up slightly in pride. "I'm the best martial artist in Nerima." She then let out some of her breath. "Turns out, chi based martial arts are the worst possible thing to use on those witches, and I didn't know. So I go in desperately tryin' to help, and…"

"You did, though!" Madoka exclaimed. "You fought the witch!"

"I helped somethin, all right," Ranma returned. "Didn't you hear the squirrel? Only reason that thing was able to make that attack that killed your friend is because I fed it so much energy. The old man said a lot of stupid stuff…. I just never thought 'Martial artists must protect the weak' would be one of the dumb ones."

"It's not!" Madoka burst out, reaching across the table and grabbing one of Ranma's hands. "Mami believed in it, too. She said that some magical girls don't, that they just fight each other for territory, but she stopped witches because she didn't want them to hurt anyone."

Ranma laughed. "Thought I was supposed to be cheerin' you up?"

"That's why you came here?" Madoka asked. At Ranma's nod, she continued, "You helped, really! I mean, it's good to have someone to talk to about it. No one else knows, and Mami lived alone…"

"Yeah," Ranma said uncertainly. "Well, I'm probably gunna stay around for a while. At least 'till I get all the witches. If that's what that girl was doing, I guess I've gotta finish up."

"What would you do after that?" Madoka asked.

Ranma pondered for a moment. "Try and figure out what the squirrel did to me so I can reverse it and unlock my curse."

Madoka tilted her head curiously. "Is your 'curse' the thing that made you turn from a boy to a girl in the Labyrinth?" At Ranma's nod, she continued, "Does that mean… you were originally a boy and can't turn back?"

"Figured it out that fast, huh?" Ranma shrugged. "Squirrel did specify it was 'magical girl,' so I almost expected it."

"That's horrible!" Madoka exclaimed.

Ranma waved her hand. "It's happened before. Like I said, all I've gotta do is beat up these witches, find where they're coming from and stop it or whatever, and I can go find a solution."

A voice cut in as Ranma was raising a spoonful of soup to her mouth. "That would be a good plan if witches ever stopped." She looked up to see Homura standing at the end of the table.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you know how many witches there are in the world?" Homura asked, walking towards the two and stopping behind Madoka. "By now there are hundreds of thousands, and more are created every day."

"Th… that many?" Madoka's face paled slightly.

"The other flaw," Homura raised one finger, "is the average life expectancy of a magical girl. Mami Tomoe was one of the longest lived ones I'd ever heard of, and she lived about three years. One I know of… lived five minutes."

"I'm startin' to agree with the squirrel," Ranma said, Madoka too busy looking appalled at the new information to comment. "How DO you know so much about this? Was that your wish or something?"

"If you chose not to believe me, it's your decision," Homura replied."I'm just telling you how things are."

"If… if that's true," Madoka finally spoke up, "Why didn't you help Mami? If there are so many witches to fight, and magical girls die so often, why don't you work together? Why do so many of you fight?"

"You wouldn't understand-" Homura started.

"I wouldn't understand unless I become a magical girl, is that it?" Madoka interrupted, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"No!" Homura lowered her voice as a few nearby students turned to look at her. "You wouldn't understand then, either."

"I just don't know why you two won't work together. I don't want either of you to die," Madoka said, her voice quavering. "I don't know you very well, but you both seem like good people."

"Look," Ranma shrugged. "I've got no problem with working together, myself. If these were fights with other people I might, but these witches need to be put down."

"You're just as naive as she was," Homura said flatly, "and not nearly as powerful." She then turned and walked away.

"No…" Madoka said, quietly, before Ranma patted her on the hand.

"Don't worry about it," the redhead assured. "For some reason I seem to be able to tell when she's getting in a fight. I can help her out whether she wants it or not."

"Hey, I finally got that pudding I wanted!" the blue haired girl who had been talking to Madoka before called as she walked towards the table carrying her own lunch tray. "The line was so long I started eating my beef bowl already." She caught sight of Ranma and blinked. "Hey Madoka, who's this?"

"Oh, um Sayaka, this is Ranma," Madoka said, gesturing to the two. "I met her a couple of days ago."

"Hmm…" the new girl peered closely into Ranma's face. "You aren't the one who made Madoka cry, are you?"

"Hey, I told you that wasn't important," the pink haired girl said quickly.

"Of course it's important!" Sayaka replied. "After all, I'll protect you with my life!"

Madoka giggled. "Sayaka, stop that. You don't want to freak out Hitomi again, do you?"

"Aw, but the look on her face was great," Sayaka responded, sliding onto the bench next to her friend. "So is this one of those things where you bullied Madoka, but then her sweet and pure heart made you a good guy?"

"What?" Ranma asked flatly.

"You read way too many manga," the aforementioned girl waved off her friend. "We just share some interests, that's all."

"You two…" Sayaka looked between the redhead and the pink haired girl. "Unless it's mutual lamentations on being short, I don't see it."

"We both like... magical girls!" Madoka improvised.

"Yeah, um, they're really cool," Ranma chipped in, failing miserably at sounding enthusiastic.

Sayaka seemed to miss this. "Magical girls are overrated," she rolled her eyes. "Give me super sentai any day."

"And you wonder why everyone thinks you're a tomboy," Madoka said, evidently happy to move the conversation on.

"I don't wonder, I'm proud of it," Sayaka replied as the bell chimed. "What?" she asked, looking up at the clock. "But I haven't even really started my pudding yet! Stupid line!"

HR.

"You sure about this?" Ranma asked as the car turned onto the highway.

"It's fine," the older woman responded, expertly shifting through gears. "I called in sick for the week after what happened on Saturday. Besides, I've always had a sort of morbid curiosity about Nerima ever since that really jittery ambulance driver showed up."

The two fell into silence, Ranma watching the cars go by and thinking things over for a while before speaking again. "I gotta ask," she started, "Why're you being so calm and helpful about this? I mean, I've caught you slippin'; you still think I'm Rei."

"Not quite right," the brown haired woman replied. "I think you're the same person, at least the same body. I understand that you think you're someone else. I'm just used to calling you Rei."

"I guess," Ranma looked uncertain. Seeing this, the woman continued.

"When I took Rei in, we tried to find out what had happened to her. We went to every doctor I could think of and afford, but none of them had any idea. Hell, Dr. Shinbo was the only one who found out everything about her and didn't freak out, either asking us never to come back or if she would submit to a 'full examination.'"

"Did they find anything?" Ranma asked, resisting the urge to shudder at the older woman's last words.

"Absolutely nothing," she explained. "Well, they found a lot of things. More scar tissue and healed breaks than a forty year boxer, stupid amounts of endurance, but apparently your brain was perfectly normal. They said there was no indication of what happened, or if it would ever reverse itself or get worse. I've always had this thought in the back of my mind, 'What if she wakes up one day and doesn't know who I am?' or 'What if she tells me she knows who her real family are and wants to go home?'"

"Oh," Ranma focussed her eyes intently on the dashboard. "I guess this wasn't really good news for you, huh?"

"It's… actually not going as badly as I was afraid it would," Ms. Asuka said. "You haven't accused me of kidnapping you, after all."

"Well, if this is a kidnapping," the redhead began, "it's a lot less annoying than the other ones. At least you didn't try to run me over with a horse."

The driver took her eyes off of the road for a second to give her passenger a flat look. "Are you sure you want to go back to this place?"

"Stuff like that makes it seem worse than it is," Ranma began, catching sight of a sign up ahead that announced they were entering Nerima. "It's…" She suddenly jerked forward, a spray of red leaving her chest. The view out the front window lurched sideways, and she saw Ms. Asuka's horrified face for a fraction of a second before everything went black.

She blinked rapidly when the light burst in on her a few seconds later. "What was that?" the older woman asked, as she found herself sitting in the car once again, nothing out of the ordinary.

Huh?" Ranma grunted dumbly, looking down at the spotless cream uniform shirt she was wearing.

"You said something, but it sounded like you got ahead of your words. Something about worse than something?" the brunette clarified.

"It's not important," Ranma leaned against the window, squinting down the side of the highway as the chimes began in her head, disconcertingly fast. "Stop the car."

"What?" Ms. Asuka's voice sounded incredulous.

"Get to the side of the road and stop the car, now!" Ranma ordered, the "Welcome to Nerima" sign slowly coming into sight in front of her.

"There's a rest stop-"

"NOW!" Ranma's anxiety increased as the sign got closer and closer. Had she passed it in the vision? She wasn't sure. She'd looked away. She let out an explosive breath as the car coasted to a stop on the shoulder of the road, less than twenty meters away. The bells stopped.

"I hope there was a reason for that," Ms. Asuka said, slightly irritable.

"You remember when I jumped off the footbridge?" Ranma asked as she opened the car door.

"And nearly gave me a heart attack, yes," Ms. Asuka responded acidly, following.

"Same reason." the redhead was now cautiously walking forward, her eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" the older woman asked slowly as the younger kept moving.

"Tryin' to figure out…" She was cut off as her left hand suddenly jerked out behind her with her next step. "What the…" she muttered, trying to lower her arm, but it wouldn't move. It was like something was holding her by the hand.

"Are you trying to play some sort of trick on me or something?" Ms. Asuka walked up next to the younger girl, grabbing her arm and trying to move it forward, but it didn't budge.

"No, it's like…. my hand can't move past this… whatever it is," Ranma replied, stepping backwards and freeing the appendage. Pushing it forward several times, it always stopped at the same point.

The older woman grabbed the hand and studied it. "When did you get that ring?" she asked, pointing at the adornment on the redhead's middle finger.

"The ring?" Ranma's eyes widened. "That… might actually be it, yeah." She quickly slipped the jewelry off, and brought it up to the same point while held in her right hand. Obligingly, it seemed to hit a wall in empty air.

"I was actually just asking where you'd gotten it because I'd never seen it before," Ms. Asuka blinked. "So wait, if that had hit this… wall thing… while you were in the car…"

Ranma nodded. "'S why I asked you to stop." Presenting her open palm with the ring in it, she asked, "Hold this."

"Right," the brown haired woman said, but she took the item as though it were radioactive.

Ranma began walking forward, past the previous point of no return as the older woman curiously walked up to it, raising the ring in two fingers and 'banging' it against the invisible wall.

Ranma, for her part, began to feel a bit uneasy as she gained distance. The squirrel had said something about her soul gem during the conversation the night before, that her soul was kept in it during combat, in order to protect it. Her soul was important. A life of meditation on the spirit, when not dodging hungry wolves, had taught her that much, and all of the supernatural weirdness at the Tendo Dojo had reinforced it, but it seemed like she couldn't bring the gem into Nerima. She'd made it about ninety meters from the wall when her uneasiness began to turn to queazyness, and her vision began to blur.

Stopping, she looked back to see Ms. Asuka standing near the 'Welcome to Nerima' sign, looking back nervously. Turning and taking another few steps she fell forward, catching herself on her hands. By this point, it was getting hard to see anything through the haze. "Damn it, squirrel…" she tried to say, but it barely came out as a whisper. She reluctantly began pushing herself backwards, until her vision began to return to her and she could struggle to her feet. Squaring her shoulders, she marched back towards the sign.

"Rei… what's going on?" a very confused Ms. Asuka asked.

"I'm gunna find out," Ranma replied. "Can I get the ring back?"

Ms. Asuka handed it back reluctantly. "You still haven't explained where you got it." Ranma continued not explaining, simply stepping away from the invisible wall and cupping her hands together. She tried to call up her chi, but nothing seemed to happen, which was strange since she'd been able to make the jump the day before. She frowned down at her hands irritably and closed her eyes. Her body felt fine, at least physically, but something strange was going on with her chi. Her body was suffused with it, as per normal, but it wasn't concentrating in her core as she breathed. Instead, it was all in…

"Damn it, squirrel," she muttered for the second time in five minutes, slipping the ring back on her left hand and making a fist, knuckles pointed straight forward. "Moko Takabisha!" she yelled, her eyes opening to see a bright orb of blue power fly from her outstretched fist, exploding when it hit the wall. Holding the ring up to her face, she winced when she saw that the gem embedded in it had darkened slightly. "Not doin' that again," she muttered.

"Before you ask," Ranma said as she walked back to her now gaping audience of one, "that was a chi blast. It's a sort of life energy thing really skilled martial artists can do."

"How good do you have to be to throw energy out of your hand?" the older woman asked, skeptically.

"I'm the best," Ranma replied with a smirk.

"And the ring?"

The redhead scratched the back of her head. "That's a long and stupid story," she started. "Let's just say I made a wish I…" She trailed off, as things clicked rapidly into place. "No one from Nerima… That's it!" She spun to look at the older woman, a wild look in her eye. "I never went near Nerima, no one there remembers me, I can't get back in, that…" Her rapid mental wheel spinning was abruptly stopped as she was wrapped in a hug.

"Rei, calm down. Breathe. What's happening?" Ms. Asuka asked, in a calm, soothing voice.

"I… I only got to Mitakihara a few days ago," the redhead started. "I got involved in a fight that… I couldn't win by myself, and this kid was in danger. I wanted to be able to protect her, but I was also afraid one of these things might attack one of my friends if they tried to get involved, which they always do. I was given one wish, but I wished for the power to protect her, and to keep anyone from Nerima from getting involved."

"And you… are from Nerima," Ms. Asuka said, uncertainly.

Ranma laughed bitterly. "Not anymore."

"That's… pretty hard to believe," the older woman admitted.

"Yeah, well try getting that ring past there," Ranma argued, gesturing at the welcome sign. "And because of how I got the power to win that fight, apparently I can't get too far from the ring."

"I see," the older woman nodded, releasing Ranma and backing up slightly. "What happens if we break the ring? Would that help any?"

Ranma concentrated, causing the ring to flash into the egg-shape of her soul gem. "The squirrel mentioned somethin' about my soul being in here," she explained. "I… don't think breaking it would be smart."

"Your soul? Wait… what's this about a squirrel?" the older woman asked.

"It's not really a squirrel," Ranma shrugged. "Sorta a squirrel-rabbit thing. It makes contracts to create magical girls and is better at hiding the truth than Nabiki."

"I… see," the brown haired woman said faintly.

"I recognize that look in your eyes," Ranma said. "You might wanna stop askin' questions for the night, especially since you're drivin' us home."

The other just mutely nodded before starting back towards the car. "Ms. Asuka?" Ranma said as the two climbed into the vehicle. "Thanks for drivin' me out here."

"Re-Ranma, just call me Suzuka. That way I can pretend I've just got a rebellious daughter rather than the world's gone crazy."

The redhead laughed. "Sure."

END.

Well, Weebee's kinda worried we may have repeated too much exposition due to other parts of conversations being important, but hopefully not. We thank you for the feedback on the first chapter, none of which was "Kill it, Kill it now!" though to the guest who asked a question, we ask that you give some form of contact info in future so that we may reply.

Also, a clarification note. When we said 'we aren't using anything else,' we may have been off a bit, as the witch made of spikes in the first chapter is actually taken from other sources. How it really works is, no plots from other sources will show up. We'll probably use some things, mostly due to our lack of originality, but just because, say, a witch from Oriko or Kazumi Magica shows up doesn't mean you should start wondering when the magical girl killing spree will start.

Now…. "Woah woah woah! What do you two think you're doin?!"

Weebee: Writing the end notes?

Jonakhensu: Finishing up the chapter so we can post it?

Kyoko: No you are not! This bitch has not had a single fucking line! I thought you guys would be treating my character better than that canon stuff.

Homura: Condescending. You aren't listed in the characters listing.

Kyoko: I'm wha… Ranma, Kyubey and Homura? What is this, some sorta harem beastiality fic?

Kyubey: Awriight, I get some hos. I mean… contract?

Weebee: There's special markup for pairings now, y'know. Do you see it up there?

Kyubey: Aw, naaaaw.

Jonakhensu: Don't worry, Kyoko, you should be getting plenty of screentime next chapter… unless this is like the Freaky Fish Guy incident...

Mako Tsunami: I AM NOT A FREAKY FISH GUY!

Weebee: We haven't even WRITTEN a Yu-Gi-Oh fic. Get the hell out!

Mako Tsunami: Please? I need the money…

Kyoko: I keep hearin' about this mythical paycheck, but nothin's shown up.

Jonakhensu: This is getting stupid… has anyone seen Mami?

Charlotte: CHEEEEEEESE!

Floating head of Mami: Help!

Weebee: They're still at it?

Kyoko: I guess she's just good at keeping ahead of the game.

Mami: NOT FUNNY!

Homura: Disapproving with utmost scorn. Can we just end this? She's right, it's not funny.

Weebee: You heard the Elcor, folks. See ya next time!

Charlotte: CHEEEEEEEEEESE!


	3. Chapter 3: Starving, Crazed Weasels

Hello. So it turns out, as you all probably know, that Weebee is an idiot. Pro tip: Don't wait until the last minute to choose a character name. We did this at the end of the last chapter, and ended up accidentally naming Ms. Asuka the same as Madoka's homeroom teacher. Then, in a mad scramble to fix it, Weebee went for the first Anime he could get ahold of and grabbed a likely looking female name from it. Yeah, turns out no sane parent would name their child that. Finally, we decided on the current name, which is Suzuka. Weebee's pretty sure this one works, probably... And if it doesn't, we don't care at this point.

Chapter 3: Starving, Crazed Weasels.

"Well, that's finally over," Ranma grumbled as she carefully packed her laptop into her bookbag. Using the thing was a pain in the neck, though she'd had no idea that Furinkan was so out of date compared to everywhere else. On the other hand, at Furinkan the fragile little thing would probably have been smashed ten times over before lunch.

It also didn't help that her father's crazy younger sister was, quite possibly, a worse English teacher than Hinako, though she had been right, being back in ninth grade again made the work pretty easy.

Fishing the slip of paper with her locker combination on it out of her pants' pocket, she opened the small compartment and stuffed the bag inside, only to be interrupted by a soft throat clearing. "Huh?" she asked, turning to see Madoka standing next to the row of lockers and moving nervously from side to side.

"I… wanted to ask," she started. "Are you going to hunt witches after school today?"

Ranma shrugged before bending down to grab her street shoes from under the locker. "Was plannin' to go home and have dinner first, but yeah."

"I was wondering if I could come with you," the younger girl hedged, her fidgeting getting worse.

"You… wanna fight witches with me," Ranma asked flatly, glancing at the pink haired girl's left hand.

"N… no, not to fight," she responded. "I just… I don't want you to go out alone, and…"

Ranma shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she cut Madoka off. "Besides, it's way too dangerous for you to go into a labyrinth. I mean, do you know how to fight at all?"

"No," the younger girl looked down at her shoes. "I just don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Madoka…." Ranma started reluctantly, trying to pick her words carefully. "If I'm the only one I've gotta worry about, I can fight a lot better than if I've got to look after someone else."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," the other girl agreed reluctantly.

"Look, you really gotta stop worrying so much about everyone else," the older redhead said, shutting her locker door. "Me 'n Homura take care of the witches, you take care of school and stuff, okay?"

Madoka nodded as the redhead turned away, but her expression fell when the other had turned a corner into the front entrance. "Hey, I've been looking for you!" She jumped, spinning to see Sayaka standing behind her. "Gee, you're jumpy, huh?"

"Oh sorry," the pink haired girl said quickly.

"You seem kinda distracted," the blue haired girl observed.

"It's nothing," Madoka laughed nervously.

Sayaka shrugged. "Ah, okay. I was just wondering if you wanted to walk to the hospital with me. I'm going to see Kyosuke, but the trip's pretty boring by myself."

"Sure," Madoka nodded. As the two started for their own lockers, she continued, "How is he?"

"He's supposed to be starting physical therapy soon," Sayaka replied. "I think he liked the gift I brought him last time."

"That's good," Madoka laughed. "So, have you asked if he'll go out with you once he's released?"

"Hey, stop suggesting embarrassing stuff like that," Sayaka waved the comment off hurriedly.

"Whatever you say," Madoka replied.

HR.

"Magical girls, where are you?" Kyoko Sakura asked, as she stood on top of a large building, surveying the city that surrounded her.

"I hope you're not expecting that to work," a neutral tone interrupted her as she was about to open her mouth again.

She responded by withdrawing an apple from the basket at her side and taking a bite out of it. "It's not like you're any help," she said after swallowing. "But no, I doubt they're going to come when I call."

"Well, one of them is over that way," Kyubey announced, stepping in front of the red haired girl and gesturing with one of his massive ears.

"Huh, that actually worked," Kyoko nodded, before picking up the small animal and starting to move. "Point the way!" She was about to leap off of the building, when she stopped and looked back at the basket of apples. After a long moment of thought, she summoned her spear into existence, hooking the basket's handle to its end with a small loop of magically generated chain before leaping off of the roof.

HR.

"That visit was pretty fast," Madoka observed, as Sayaka stepped out of the elevator.

Sayaka frowned irritably. "The nurse said he shouldn't be disturbed. I guess he doesn't want visitors today or something."

"I wonder why?" Madoka asked, as the two headed for the glass doors at the front of the hospital lobby.

"No idea," the blue haired girl replied. "He seemed fine last weekend. Sorry for dragging you all the way out here."

"Not a problem," Madoka said, waving it off. "We're pretty close to the mall, do you want to…" She trailed off into silence, coming to a stop.

It took a moment for Sayaka to notice, but when she did, she turned to her friend, puzzled. "Madoka?" she asked.

"Huh?" the pink haired girl said, blinking.

"They're pretty nice bikes, but you don't have to space out over them like that," Sayaka laughed, studying the bikes in the bike stand that the other girl seemed to be staring fixedly at.

"It's not the bikes," Madoka shook her head, "You can't see it?"

"I can't see…" Sayaka was cut off as a black aura appeared on the pillar next to the bike rack. "What the hell?"

"I allowed you to see it," a voice emanated from Madoka's position which was definitely not Madoka's. On looking, Sayaka blinked. "Um, Madoka? You've got a weasel on your shoulder."

"Oh, that's Kyubey," the pink haired girl explained. "But this is bad, is that…"

"It's a grief seed, preparing to hatch into a witch," Kyubey confirmed.

"Wait, a what doing a what?" Sayaka demanded.

"What do we do?" Madoka asked. "I don't have Homura or Ranma's number…"

"Thanks for ignoring me," the other girl grumbled, walking up to the blackness and extending one finger to poke at it.

"That's… really not a good idea," Madoka said rapidly, grabbing the limb, but she was too late, as Sayaka was pulled forward, the pink haired girl sucked in behind her.

HR.

"Well, you still remember how to cook," Suzuka said, lowering her spoon to the plate.

Ranma shrugged. "On the road, you either learn how to cook or develop a taste for beans and rice."

"This isn't exactly roadside cooking," the older woman objected, poking at the carefully prepared salad on her plate dubiously.

"Nah, easiest thing to get materials for if you're traveling through farmland," Ranma disagreed.

"Wait, so you… I can't remember, is all of this from our fridge?" the brown haired woman demanded, her eyes narrowing at her 'daughter.'

"No," Ranma replied, and as Suzuka was about to open her mouth the redhead continued. "I picked it up from the grocery store on the way home."

"It's strange what changes and what doesn't," Suzuka chuckled. At Ranma's questioning look, she continued, "Rei had a similar sense of humor, and I think I've had this exact meal before, but… you say you're some professional martial artist, and she couldn't throw a punch."

"Oh?" Ranma asked, surprised. Even having lost her memory, the idea that she couldn't fight at all was… strange.

"I made a joke once, that maybe because of her strength the reason she couldn't remember anything was because she was some secret military experiment. I saw something similar in a cheesy American movie, I think. That uniform didn't help, either."

"Uniform?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah," the older woman nodded. "You had an old style Chinese military uniform in your pack when we found you."

"Oh, that," Ranma chuckled. "The old man had this thing about me at least knowin' how to handle any weapon. Said it was in case someone tried to use one against me, so we tracked down an out of the way military post while we were in China. I think Pop exchanged hand to hand training for my weapons training."

"So… you know how to use military weapons?" Suzuka asked faintly.

Ranma shrugged. "Only the man-portable ones and explosives. The training's pretty rough, too. Y'know, how not to shoot yourself in the leg, minimum safe distance for a grenade, that kinda thing."

"That theory about secret experiments isn't getting any less plausible, you know," the older woman observed. "Why would anyone even need to train for all of that?"

"Ask the old man, if you can find him," Ranma dismissed.

"Well, it didn't do any good for Rei," Suzuka said with a fond smile gesturing to a patched section of wall. "She struck some ridiculous looking stance, and accidentally punched a hole in the wall."

"I thought you just said she couldn't fight?" Ranma asked, confused.

Suzuka shook her head. "She couldn't. She hit a wall stud and sprained her wrist."

"Hey, I gotta ask," Ranma looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Why did you register Rei as a girl and everything? I mean, the curse wasn't locked, right?"

Suzuka considered her response carefully. Some of the stories she'd been told and the way Ranma referred to the locked curse told her that the question was being asked because Ranma, at least, had thought of herself as male. "Well," she started, "Rei didn't really care. I… actually had to explain that it wasn't really normal, and we decided on registering her as female because that form would be less susceptible to random splashing." She decided to omit the fact that she'd also sort of always wanted to have a daughter.

"Oh, I…" Ranma suddenly stopped, her mouth snapping closed as her eyes gained a curiously blank look. This only lasted a couple of seconds, before the redhead shot up from the table. "I've gotta go!"

"What?" Suzuka asked, standing herself as the shorter girl headed for the glass doors that lead to the balcony. "Ranma, did I say something wrong?"

"It's fine, I've gotta go!" Ranma called back rapidly as she shoved the door open and vaulted onto the railing, leaping out into empty space.

The brown haired woman's heart leapt into her throat as she charged onto the balcony herself, only to spot a flash of red scaling the balconies of the apartment building across the street like an overly large ladder. Looking down at the four story drop to the road below, she sagged against the railing. "I'm never going to get used to this," she muttered sourly.

HR.

"Hmm, interesting," Kyoko said, watching the figure below her rapidly moving across the rooftops. Plucking an apple from the basket she was carrying over her shoulder, she took a bite before leaping down to intercept the figure. The other girl didn't seem to notice her, even though she'd landed only a few meters from her. "Hey! Are you ignoring me?" she demanded, but the other didn't change her course or speed at all.

"That really pisses me off!" the spear toting redhead growled, holding up one hand, a barrier of chains springing up in front of her opponent. "Answer me when I'm talking to you!"

The other girl slowly turned to face her, giving her a barely discernable irritable look. "What do you want, Kyoko Sakura?"

"Ooh, you know my name," the girl in question responded, taking another bite of her food. "Spooky." Seeing no response from the other, she huffed. "You'd think a magical girl who worked with Mami'd be a bit friendlier, though I guess it's possible that you smartened up after she died."

"I haven't worked with Mami Tomoe," the black haired girl replied. "If that's all you wanted, I have to go."

"Ah, you're the other one…" Kyoko turned a glare up to the roof she'd leapt from. "Could've told me that, bunnycat."

"Kyubey sent you?" The black haired girl's eyes narrowed. "He's trying to stall me." Saying this, she reached underneath the shield on her left arm with her right hand, and withdrew…

"SHIT!" Kyoko yelped, leaping to the side, but the other girl ignored her and aimed her rocket launcher at the chain barrier that had blocked her way, blasting a hole in it. "What the…" The redhead clenched her teeth, noticing that her basket of apples had lost a couple during her dive, and rapidly scooping the fruit off of the ground. "Get back here!"

"If you want to follow me, you're welcome to," the other girl called over her shoulder. "But don't stop me from going where I need to."

"She's insane," Kyoko grumbled, but started running regardless. She was going to find out what was going on around here.

HR.

Ranma ran to the edge of the roof, springing off of it and into mid-air over the tightly packed street, trying to make sense of what she'd just seen as she tracked the chimes. Granted, most of the visions had been strange, but seeing a giant clown face bite her hand off was a bit more strange than normal. She caught herself on the other side of the street, wondering where it was she was going. So far, it looked like she was heading into the center of the city, but…

She was high above Madoka, the pink haired girl standing next to Kyubey in a brightly candy colored room. Her vision abruptly accelerated towards the other girl, before a bow materialized in Madoka's hands and she drew back the string, an arrow of light forming out of nothingness. She was just a foot away from the other girl, able to see the trails of tears that poured down her face, when the arrow was let go and everything faded out… just in time for her to plough into the backside of a large billboard, the plywood shattering from the force.

She managed to catch herself on the walkway in front of the sign before leaping to the next building nearly on instinct, but she was still confused. She'd already seen the vision, hadn't she? And this one was a lot stranger. For one, last time she was pretty sure Madoka hadn't been a magical girl. Her question was answered… sort of, when a second set of chiming joined the first in her head, but it seemed to be coming from the same direction.

"Would it kill the squirrel to give out instruction manuals with these powers?" the redhead said under her breath, increasing her pace slightly as the local hospital came into view. "At least this one isn't half way across the city," she grumbled, but frowned. Apparently witches DID like to show up around hospitals. Glancing down at her ring, she saw a small light beginning to shine in the gem. "Bingo," she muttered, following the much more reliable witch locater.

When she eventually stumbled into the labyrinth, she blinked. "Are they tauntin' me for giving up dinner?" she asked, surveying the several cookie and cake shaped familiars that stood, passively looking at her. Since they weren't attacking, she ran past them and deeper into the twisted space.

Charging down a hall lined with giant pill bottles, she heard a scream of pain from behind a door. Kicking it open, she entered the large, brightly colored room that she'd seen before, leaping into the air and delivering a kick to the face of a giant clown faced snake-like creature that was lunging towards a blue haired girl in a cape.

"Ranma?!" Madoka called from the side of the room.

"You all right?" the redhead asked, holding up her left hand and invoking her shield as the witch smashed into it.

"M… my hand," the blue haired girl stammered.

Ranma surveyed her, noticing the gush of red that coated the front of her outfit, and the stump of a right arm she was holding to her chest. "Sayaka?" she asked, dredging up the name from a couple of days before. "This is gunna hurt."

"Wha.. agh!" Sayaka yelled in agony as Ranma grabbed her arm, concentrating her magic as though she were using her chi, into a searing ball in her right hand, and shoving the stump into it. "Wh… why did you do that?!"

"To keep you from bleeding out," Ranma responded. "Can you get over to Madoka while I deal with this thing?"

"I… think so," the other girl replied.

Ranma nodded and summoned her tonfa into existence."I'm droppin' the shield now."

Sayaka nodded back, bolting off, and the Witch sprang to follow. Ranma responded by pummelling it in the head as hard as she could, just barely rolling out of the way as it twisted around to catch her. "You're pretty fast, huh?" she asked, landing on top of the thing and springing off as it buried its teeth in its own back. "Not all that bright, though."

She extended her tonfa, aiming for the inviting target of the creature's eye and hitting, the rest of its body thrashing violently for a second before its mouth spread wide, a second head emerging from it and leaving the body behind. "Okay, now that was creepy," she muttered.

Diving out of the way of yet another lunge from the newly invigorated creature, she saw its mouth close around one of its own familiars that had gathered around the battlefield. "Okay, so keep it away from Madoka and Sayaka," she noted, landing several hard blows along the thing's body while it was distracted. Unfortunately, these seemed to do next to nothing as it whipped around again, missing her by only a foot.

HR.

"This is kinda pathetic," Kyoko observed as she and the girl she'd followed stood in the shadows of the witch's labyrinth, watching as one of the two magical girls who was supposed to be fighting it was huddled at the side of the room with her civilian friend, and the other was doing next to no damage that the witch couldn't repair instantly by shedding its skin. "You know, if you came here to help them, shouldn't you do it already?" she asked, giving a sidelong glance to the girl who stood next to her.

After several moments of silence, save the fight the redhead below her was having, she shrugged. "Whatever," she said, as the girl on the ground appeared to be slowing down. "Think your friend just hit her limit." Still no response. "Well you're no… oooh," she winced as the other redhead was engulfed by the witch, having just stopped in place and waited for it. "There she goes, now it's time I kill this thing."

"I'll do it," the black haired girl said, her expression unreadable.

"Huh, so you waited for it to kill off your competition?" Kyoko snorted. "Awfully cold, wasn't it?"

The black haired girl pinned her with a glare for a moment, before turning to jump down to floor level. She stopped in her tracks, however, as the witch's face began to bulge, its mouth slowly opening.

"What in the…" Kyoko breathed, until parts of the witch's face and head began to rip like the seams of a doll, eventually giving way totally with a loud, wet tearing sound, revealing the pigtailed magical girl standing in the center of a field of devastation, small bits of black flesh sliding down a transparent shell that surrounded her. "Okay, that was pretty cool," the spear wielding girl admitted grudgingly as the labyrinth began to fade. She went to take a bite from her apple before looking at if for a moment and tossing it back into her basket. She wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment.

HR.

"This is gunna be hard to explain to my parents," Sayaka laughed a little manically as she stared down at the stump of her right arm. "It's kinda funny, I wished for Kyosuke's hand to be healed, and…"

"Sorry," Ranma responded, approaching the blue haired girl where she and Madoka were sitting on a bench near the hospital entrance. "I got here as fast as I could."

"It's not your fault," Sayaka waved the apology off with her left hand. "I mean, I'm the one who tried to stab it in the mouth. I just… I didn't expect being a magical girl would let me audition for Ash Williams, y'know?"

Everyone else gave her a blank look.

"It isn't that big a deal," Kyubey chipped in. "She can grow the hand back within a day."

"What?" Sayaka asked. "Look, I don't know what it's like for weasel creatures, but humans don't do that!"

Kyubey tilted his head. "But you aren't human. You're a magical girl."

"Squirrel, remember when I asked if there was anything important you should tell me?" Ranma asked, her eyebrow twitching. "The ability to grow back limbs is kinda important. And what do ya mean we're not human?"

"So… I'm going to be okay?" Sayaka asked.

"If the squirrel's not conveniently forgetting things again, yeah," Ranma nodded.

"Oh," Sayaka said, and then began to sob violently.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, raising her hands in a warding gesture. "I told her she'll be fine! What'd I do?"

"The kid just came out of her first fight after getting a hand cut off. You expect her to skip around singing love songs?" Ranma and Madoka turned to see a slightly taller redhead walking up to the group, tossing an apple up and down in one hand.

"Who are you?" the pigtailed martial artist demanded, studying the newcomer. Her outfit looked about par for the course as magical girls went: a red dress with a dark blouse and pink skirt showing through a cutout in the front and trimmed with white frills. At least the spear over her shoulder looked functional.

"I'm no one special," the other redhead replied. "Just came around to meet the new girl." She nodded to Sayaka. "New girls now, I guess."

"Yeah, well…" Ranma said, as Madoka moved to comfort her friend. "Maybe we should talk someplace else? In front of a hospital's probably not the best place, especially with…" She gestured at Sayaka.

"Where do you suggest?" the other redhead asked.

Ranma shrugged, willing herself back into civilian form, and immediately hearing the loud ringing of her cellphone. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw five waiting text messages and a voice message. "Just a sec, gotta do something." she said, nervously checking the latest text. There were a lot of exclamation marks.

Pressing the redial button, she was answered within one ring. From nearby, the taller redhead winced. "Someone's pissed… and what's all the yelling about balconies?"

HR.

"You know, next time you tell me a place is clear, remind me not to believe you," Kyoko grumbled, glaring at the apple in her hand and then quite deliberately taking a bite.

"I never said it was clear," Kyubey corrected. "I said that Mami Tomoe had died. I also informed you of the two magical girls I knew of in the area at the time, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah." Kyoko waved the little creature off. "Of course, magical girls around here seem to be multiplying like rabbits, and you're the only one who can make them." She shivered. "One of them pulled a rocket launcher on me, and the other one tore a witch apart with a defensive spell."

"As long as you don't eat her, that shouldn't be a problem." Kyoko looked sharply at the white furred creature sitting on the ledge at the end of the roof. Had that been an insult?

"And except for the one with the rocket launcher, they all seem like Mami's type, too," the magical girl snorted. "All of them gave me their names and where they went to school within five minutes. Idiots."

"And that's a problem?" Kyubey asked, curiously.

"Acting naively like that's just a really stupid way to die," Kyoko responded, sprawling backwards on the roof. "That Sayaka girl, barely has any power, made a wish to help some boy she's got a crush on, and gets herself nearly killed in the first fight. So stupid."

"You've said this before, several times," the magical creature observed.

HR.

"It really isn't a big deal," Ranma justified, raising her hands placatingly.

"Well, if the jump wasn't, you were certainly pretty rude, leaving the table like that," Suzuka responded, crossing her arms.

Ranma scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess so, but I had to go too fast to explain."

"Wait, so you can't understand why I'm mad you jumped out a window, again, but you take it seriously when I say you're rude?" the older woman asked, incredulously. "What was so important, exactly?"

"It had to do with that stuff that happened on Monday," Ranma explained.

"That fighting with magical powers thing?" the older woman asked, tentatively. At Ranma's nod, she sighed. "Just… be careful, all right? You're sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

"Trust me," Ranma replied. "Anyone without this magic's sorta lunch meat to these things."

Suzuka clenched one fist. "Fine," she finally said, though her facial expression didn't look terribly accepting. "Just… try to give me warning next time."

"I'll do my best," Ranma said.

Entering her bedroom several minutes later, she sighed. The older woman who thought she was her adoptive mother was… kind of annoying, to be honest, but deep down it felt kind of nice to be worried about so much. In a way, she was glad that Ryu was doing what he was for her actual mother, though. At least she wouldn't be worrying.

"So, is Sayaka okay?" the redhead asked, glancing quickly over at her windowsill, where Kyubey was perched and looking in at her.

"She's asleep at Madoka's house," the small animal reported. "Madoka asked for a sleepover."

"That's good," Ranma nodded. "So… why didn't you come and get me, rather than contracting with her?"

"Would you have rather had that witch's egg hatch at the hospital?" the small animal asked.

"And of course you didn't have time to tell her about the chance of becoming a witch, or how dangerous fighting them was," Ranma replied. "Even though that thing's familiars barely moved, and it would have taken you about five minutes to get to the center of the labyrinth."

"Assuming that they would remain non-hostile would have been a very big risk," Kyubey answered.

"Of course it would," Ranma sighed. "I'm too tired to deal with you right now."

Kyubey blinked. "So you won't be hunting witches tonight?"

"Never said that," Ranma replied. "Just don't wanna deal with you."

END.

Kyoko: Woot, screen time! I still didn't get to fight, though.

Weebee: Damn it Kyoko, couldn't you have at least waited until we got the endnotes out of the way?

Kyubey: Yeah, I've got a complaint, too. Can't any of these bitches get what I am right?

Jonakhensu: So… what are you?

Kyubey: Isn't it obvious? I'm gangsta, I mean... Cabbit?

Jonakhensu: I think Ryo-Ohki would disagree.

Weebee: Please don't get her involved… we can't afford the property damage.

Madoka: But isn't Kyubey an alien making girls into witches and eating their souls?

Sayaka: God, Madoka, stop that! It's disgusting!

Madoka: What? What am I doing?

Kyoko: Wow, she's so spaced out she doesn't even realize it. Shrooms are pretty powerful, huh?

Madoka: But… I'm not doing drugs! Why don't any of you ever believe me?

Author: We believe you, but we've lost control of the notes, so...

Homura: Compassionately. This is an intervention, Madoka.

Madoka: You too, Homura? But I thought you were supposed to know all this?

Homura: Amused. I am, but it's fun messing with my Waifu's head.

Madoka: Gah!

Weebee: Erm, yeah… Moving on while they try to kill each other, we hope you enjoyed the chapter and fic so far. Please R&amp;R, telling us what you liked, hated or were indifferent towards, and…

*Slamming door*

Disembodied head of Mami Tomoe: I… finally got… away from her. Why didn't any of you bastards help me?!

Kyoko: It was funny?

Homura: Deadpan. Agreed.

Madoka: Well, I didn't know about it.

Mami: Well thanks a lot, assholes! And I still haven't been revived. This is all bullshit! TIRO FINALE!

*Static*


	4. Chapter 4: Just a Little Creepy

Extra quotation types table.

"Regular speech, obviously."

["Telepathic communication aside from Kyubey, who's always talking like that, because screw consistency."]

Chapter 4: Just a Little Creepy.

"You don't have that much, was the line that bad?" Sayaka asked as Madoka walked up to the lunch table.

"I went to ask Homura if she'd join us," the pink haired girl explained.

"Just stared at you?" Ranma guessed from her position across from the blue haired girl.

Madoka sat next to Sayaka, Kyubey leaping off of her shoulder on to the table between the three. "She politely refused."

"Well that's something," Ranma started, before Madoka continued.

"...and told me that I shouldn't stay around you or Sayaka anymore."

"Wait," the aforementioned girl said, confused. "So, is the transfer student a magical girl, or…"

"That one is an anomaly," Kyubey chipped in. "I don't know what she's planning, and associating with her could be dangerous."

Sayaka laughed. "So you've got her telling you not to hang out with us, and the Weasel telling you not to hang out with her."

"That's about it," Madoka sighed.

After a few seconds of silence, Ranma spoke up. "So the squirrel was right about your hand growing back, huh?"

Sayaka raised the appendage into view and rapidly opened and closed it several times. "Yeah, works good as new. Weird bit is that the scar I got when I sliced my thumb open that one time came back."

"You mean weirder than regrowing an entire hand?" Ranma asked dubiously.

"Well, uh," Sayaka started, before being interrupted by another voice.

"Hey everyone, can I join you?" An olive haired girl stood at the end of the table, holding her own lunch tray.

"Oh, hi Hitomi," Madoka said, nodding to the girl politely. "This is Ranma. Sayaka and I met her the other day.."

Hitomi tilted her head in confusion. "But… isn't your name Rei?"

Madoka winced, and Sayaka shot the redhead a confused look. "It's, um, a nickname," Ranma said rapidly.

"It is a little… masculine," Hitomi said, her eyes briefly glancing at the pants the redhead wore with her uniform. "It is nice though," she then quickly reassured.

The group fell into an uncomfortable silence, before Sayaka broke it. "Nickname... I wonder if I should get a nickname? Hmm, what do ya think of 'Sword of Justice!'"

"At… least it's not the blue thunder," Ranma offered in order to fill the silence.

"Hey, that one's pretty good too," Sayaka nodded. "Thanks."

The redhead facepalmed. "I give up…"

"I'm not sure giving yourself a nickname is a very good idea," Hitomi offered.

"Yeah, but could you imagine Ms. Saotome's reaction if I wrote it on my assignments?" the blue haired girl smirked.

Ranma shook her head. "She'd probably fail you. I still use Rei on mine."

"Aw, you just don't have the courage to follow through," Sayaka objected. "But yeah, what about the other stuff we were talking about?" She threw an awkward glance Hitomi's way.

"If it helps," Kyubey cut in, "I can allow you to communicate telepathically."

"You can?" Sayaka exclaimed. "That's pretty cool."

Hitomi stared at the other girl, confused. "Huh?"

Sayaka laughed nervously. "Oh, nothing."

"All you have to do is think," Kyubey explained.

["Like this?"] Madoka asked.

["This is so cool,"] Sayaka said.

Ranma looked at her oddly. ["Well you recovered from getting your hand bitten off pretty fast."] Continuing aloud, she responded to the other's challenge. "I don't really care about being 'brave' in class, and as for the other stuff, don't worry about it."

["We aren't going to talk about the magical girl thing at all?"]' Sayaka asked, disappointed.

["Well, Hitomi is sitting right there,"] Madoka said reasonably.

["Aw, but it feels so great,"] Sayaka said, grinning. ["I mean the hand thing kinda sucked, but it didn't even hurt much after a while and now I feel more energetic than I ever have before."]

"We didn't see you yesterday, did anything happen?" Madoka asked.

["So, are we going to fight witches again today?"] Sayaka continued.

Hitomi waved it off. "Oh, I had a piano performance."

["You know, witches aren't common enough that you're gunna find one every day,"] Ranma responded. [We should still go looking, though."]

"I can't believe you're still doing all of that even with exams coming up," Madoka said. ["Can I go with you?"]

Ranma's eyebrow twitched. "Wait, exams are coming up?"

"In a couple of weeks," Madoka nodded.

"But… isn't the school year just starting?" Ranma said, confused.

Sayaka laughed. ["You managed to forget we're in an experimental school that runs the American way, huh? Kinda a neat trick, given you've been going to classes all through the normal break."] "I really don't see why Madoka can't go with us." When everyone looked at her, she blinked. "What?"

["You said the wrong bit out loud,"] Madoka replied, somewhat embarrassed for her friend.

["Oh,"] Sayaka blushed sheepishly. ["Guess speaking and using telepathy at the same time's a bad idea."]

["Ya think?"] Ranma thought back.

"Um, is something wrong?" Hitomi asked. "You guys keep looking at eachother funny, and Sayaka…"

"Hehehe, nothing's wrong!" the blue haired girl said, rapidly. "I was just, um, wondering why Ranma didn't want Madoka to come with us on a girls night out, that's all."

"A girls night…" the olive haired girl looked between Ranma and Sayaka, then glanced down at the redhead's nonstandard uniform again. "Um, Sayaka… Miss Asuka, you aren't..."

Ranma just looked at her blankly, but after a few moments, Sayaka's eyes widened. "Wait, you think…" the short-haired girl started, looking at Ranma, and then Madoka.

Ranma got it a second later. "You thought it was a date?" she asked, raising her hands in warding gestures. "It's nothing like that! Just a night out, honest!" Her eyes shot around the room nervously, as she wondered if an angry tomboy was about to burst in.

"You don't have to be so emphatic about it, you know," Sayaka griped. "Is there something wrong with me or something?"

Ranma's warding gesture continued. "N.. no, you're cu… I mean nice, I just… um…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," the blue haired girl laughed. "I was just joking, but you… actually almost said I was cute. Do you actually like girls? I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that, I just…"

"But… girls can't love girls!" Hitomi said, loudly. Turning and running off, she once again yelled "Girls can't love girls!" as she exited the lunch room.

"Uh…" Ranma said, unsure precisely how things had gotten so out of hand, but actually feeling a little better for it, as it was sort of inevitable.

"Don't worry about her," Sayaka said. "Personally I figure she's so far in the closet she's stuck behind the gym socks."

"Sayaka!" Madoka said, appalled.

"What, you explain why she's so neurotic about it, then," the blue haired girl said defensively.

"Can we get off the subject?" Ranma grumbled.

HR.

"The Blue Thunder is ready to smite evil!" Sayaka proclaimed, as she stood next to Madoka in front of the school.

Ranma twitched. "Please… don't call yourself that."

"But it's cool," Sayaka argued.

The redhead shook her head. "No, it's really not."

"It sounds cool enough to me," Madoka offered tentatively.

Ranma just threw up her hands. "Okay, whatever, I'm not callin' you that."

Sayaka looked annoyed for a moment, but shook it off. "So, what do we do to find witches?"

"Mostly just wander around to likely spots," Ranma answered. "You might actually have better ideas for that than I do, since I don't know the city very well. Basically places where people fight or get depressed a lot."

"Okay," Sayaka said, invoking her transformation. "Let's do it!"

'...Even the pose is the same,' Ranma thought, noting that the girl was holding her cutlass towards the sky. "We don't need to transform until we find them, especially since Madoka's going with us," the redhead explained. "It also uses up a bit of magic to keep active."

"Oh," the other girl replied, returning to normal form. "Still, let's do it!"

As Sayaka started down the street, Ranma turned to Madoka. "She's… way too enthusiastic about this."

"I'm glad she recovered from the last battle so well," the pink haired girl disagreed. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm?" Ranma asked.

"Before you said you didn't want me coming with you, but you didn't object when Sayaka agreed," the non-magical girl said. "Why?"

Ranma shrugged. "I was worried that you'd get hurt by a witch or something. Since you managed to stumble into one without me around, and the squirrel didn't warn me," she glared at the creature on the other girl's shoulder, "having you around is probably safer."

"You don't like Kyubey much, do you?" Madoka asked.

"I just-" Ranma started, before being interrupted by a call from Sayaka, who was waiting at the end of the block.

"Would you guys hurry up already?" the blue haired girl demanded, tapping her foot against the sidewalk rapidly.

HR.

"Haha, take this!" Sayaka yelled, as several materialized swords slammed into the creature she was fighting, a spidery mass of limbs, and exploded. Charging forward, she delivered a finishing strike with her blade, the distorted world of the labyrinth around her fading into the rooftop it had formerly been.

"So, what do you think?" she asked with a bow and a flourish of the cape that hung from her shoulders.

Madoka clapped, but Ranma looked less impressed. "Did you have to throw that many swords at it?" she asked. "It wasn't all that strong compared to other familiars I've seen. You coulda beat it by fighting normally and wasted less magic."

"It worked though," Sayaka replied slightly irritably.

"Well yeah, but so does smashin' a fly with a boulder," the redhead said. "'cept now you've got a hole in the floor you'll need ta fix."

"I don't feel any weaker from what I did," Sayaka objected.

Ranma pointed at the ornament that surrounded the other magical girl's navel. "Yeah, but your soul gem darkened a bit. If it goes black, you become a witch."

"You… what?" Madoka said, interrupting the two.

Ranma nodded. "Well that's what Homura told me, at least."

"Oh, and she's trustworthy," Sayaka cut in. "No offense, but the transfer student's kinda creepy, and she did tell Madoka not to hang out with us anymore."

"That is a bit weird," Ranma admitted. "She's got some kinda fixation on Madoka. Still, Kyubey confirmed the whole turning into witches thing."

"I… is that true?" Madoka asked, turning to the small animal on her shoulder.

"It's one of the consequences of being a magical girl," Kyubey confirmed evenly. "For your one wish, you must forever fight witches. If you didn't, did you honestly think nothing would happen?"

"Huh… so we're using the witches' power against them?" Sayaka asked. "I'm.. not sure how to feel about that."

"Well for now, take this." Ranma said, removing something from her pocket. "Catch." Sayaka stretched out a hand and caught the grief seed that had been thrown. "Just hold it against your soul gem to purify it."

"Where did you get this?" the other girl asked, turning the black object over in her fingers.

"The witch yesterday," Ranma replied.

Sayaka looked down at the item, disturbed. "Do.. you think that might have been a magical girl?"

"They can also form from familiars if they kill enough people," Ranma shook her head. "So I've honestly got no idea." After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence while Sayaka just stared at the grief seed, she continued. "We should probably keep going."

"Y… yeah," the blue haired girl nodded, her enthusiasm slightly dampened.

HR.

"You want me to what?!" Sayaka demanded as she, Ranma, and Madoka stood in an empty warehouse the next day.

"I want you to attack me and try to hit," the redhead responded. "No magic, just your sword."

"But what if I hurt you?" the other magical girl objected.

Ranma bit back the first comment that came to mind, that if she got stabbed by a novice like Sayaka she'd deserve all the damage she took, and instead said "Just trust me, okay? I won't know how well you fight with that sword unless we do this."

"I… guess," Sayaka replied, holding her blade in front of her. "Are you rea… gayah!" She leapt back, barely dodging a fist to the face. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"The witches aren't gunna wait 'till you're ready," the redhead responded. Sayaka just clenched her teeth and slashed forward, but her opponent seemed to fade away from the blow, flowing to the side without even moving that much. The next several attacks met with the same result, Ranma bobbing, weaving or leaping out of the way.

"Stand still!" the blue haired girl shouted, before several swords abruptly exploded into existence and sped towards the redhead. Ranma leapt over them before they clattered to the floor, stopped by the inner edge of her barrier.

"You just forget when I said no magic?" she asked, glaring at the other girl. "We're not tryin' to kill each other here, we're training. And someone owns this place!"

Sayaka looked down, fidgeting with the sword in her hands. "Sorry, it's just so frustrating…"

Ranma nodded. "My style sorta depends on pissing the other guy off," she admitted. "I wasn't actually TRYING this time, though."

"You're doing fine Sayaka," Madoka said, approaching and resting one hand on her friend's shoulder. "You were moving really fast, and you almost got her a few times."

The blue haired girl shrugged the hand off. "Let's do it again."

Ranma nodded back. "Yeah, then I can teach you some tricks for that sword. I… think some stuff for a kodachi should work."

Sayaka didn't respond, gritting her teeth and tightening her grip on her weapon before lunging forward. This time the match went on for quite a bit longer, Madoka watching with interest. "So, this is kind of pathetic."

The pink haired girl squeaked, looking to one side to see the redhead who had shown up after the battle two days before sitting on the crate next to her munching on a bag of popcorn. "Kyoko?" she asked, and then remembered what the other had said. "Um, Sayaka's doing the best she can. She hasn't been a magical girl for long, and…"

"I'm not talking about the blue haired one," Kyoko shook her head. "Two days ago they're all acting friendly, but now they're fighting and the redhead isn't even getting a hit in. All she can do is dodge."

"Oh no, they're not fighting, they're training," Madoka hurriedly explained. "Ranma wanted to teach Sayaka about her sword."

"She did, huh?" the sitting redhead asked dubiously. "Well, let's see about that."

"Wh… what are you going to do?" Madoka asked, as Kyoko stood and entered her magical girl form.

She was abruptly handed the bag of popcorn. "Don't worry about it. You can have as much as you want, just don't drop any."

The pink haired girl gulped, looking down at the bag in her hands. Why had that sounded like an order? She was distracted from that thought when Kyoko leapt into the air, spinning her spear and bringing it down between the two combatants, just missing each as they leapt back.

"What the hell?!" Sayaka demanded. "You almost took my head off!"

"You mind? We're busy here," Ranma said, considerably less agitated.

"You were busy getting your butt kicked, you mean," the newcomer shot back. "If you're supposed to be training her, she's doomed."

The pigtailed martial artist's eyes narrowed. "You don't get how training or sparring work at all, do you?" she asked, flatly.

"Keep making excuses," Kyoko replied, tapping her spear against her shoulder casually.

"Sayaka, go sit with Madoka," Ranma said, her expression sour. The blue haired girl took one look at the two redheads attempting to glare holes in each other and backed up.

"Hey guys, we're not supposed to be actually fighting, right?" she asked, nervously.

"Magical girls fight each other all the time," Kyoko responded. "For territory, just because they don't like you…"

"So which is this?" Ranma asked.

Kyoko shrugged. "Little from column A, little from column B."

Ranma's irritable expression broke into one of confusion. "Wait, what'd I do to you?"

"Never mind that," Kyoko yelled. "We're fighting, either get ready or die!" She immediately leapt forward, bringing her weapon around in a long arc that Ranma easily leapt over.

"Just to clarify, we still not usin' magic?" the shorter redhead asked as she dodged to the side to avoid another strike.

"Don't think I ever agreed to that," Kyoko shot back, pulling back before her weapon separated into multiple small sections linked by chains, and she threw the entire thing outward, looping around behind her opponent and pulling rapidly back in.

"Okay, just so I know," Ranma responded, leaping over the encircling chain. Kyoko had planned on this, however, and met her in the air with a hard punch which the pigtailed martial artist pushed off of to gain more height. When she'd cleared the other girl's head, she brought both legs down on her back. Kyoko caught herself before she could hit the floor, hand springing back to her feet.

"So you CAN actually hit people," she observed, no worse for the wear.

"This isn't training anymore," Ranma replied. "Though I gotta ask, seriously, why are you attacking me?"

"Just shut up and fight!" Kyoko yelled, her weapon elongating and new sections forming until a twelve foot long spear tipped whip was hovering in the air in front of her. With a gesture, she sent it flying at Ranma, twisting and turning as the other dodged.

"Gotta admit," Ranma said as she swayed out of the way of the whip once again, "this thing's pretty neat. All I've got is this." She summoned her tonfa into existence, diving through a closing loop of chain and extending it, slamming her opponent back into a pile of crates with the tip.

Kyoko hauled herself out of the wreckage, coughing and waving dust away from her face. "Aren't you supposed to use two of those?" she asked as her spear retracted to its normal size.

"Yeah, but I only got one," Ranma replied. "Works okay, though."

"Well I'm not going to complain about my opponent fighting at a disadvantage," Kyoko shrugged. "Though I've gotta ask…" She charged again, moving in for close quarters combat. "If you're this good, how the hell did you get Mami killed?!""

Ranma had been preparing her defense, but these words caused her to freeze in place for a fraction of a second. Time seemed to slow as the spear point got closer and closer to her face, her right hand moving rapidly up to knock it aside, but not quite quickly enough. Blood exploded from the side of her nose as the sharp blade cut into the flesh, a searing pain drawing itself across the left side of her face as her eye went dark.

Everything returned to normal speed as her hand clamped over her eye and she staggered backwards, the magic of her shield snapping into place around her body.

"Ranma!" Madoka yelled, horrified.

"Damn it, what did you do?" Sayaka snarled.

Ranma sucked several breaths in through her teeth. "I'll be fine," she said, strained, trying to adjust to seeing through only one eye. For her part, Kyoko was standing across from her, spear retracted, her face locked in a horrified expression. "Kinda a cheap shot, hitting me with Mami like that," the pigtailed redhead said. "Shouldn't have let it distract me that bad, though. Just a warning, if we keep going I won't be able to hold back. Lack of depth perception, ya know?"

"W… we're done," the other redhead said, her voice unsteady.

"No we're not," Sayaka snapped, stepping out, summoning her cutlass into existence.

"Yes we are. Sayaka, stay put," Ranma ordered, turning her attention back to Kyoko. "How did you know about Mami?"

Kyoko gulped. "We… worked together once."

"Yeah, well…" Ranma transformed out of her magical girl outfit, reaching down with her free hand and ripping off a good portion of her shirt. "I am sorry about Mami. Hell, only reason I'm still here is to make up for that." She began carefully folding and wrapping the cloth, before removing her hand and slapping it into place. "Shit!" she hissed under her breath at the change in pressure. "I… can't walk home like this, I'm gunna have to call Suzuka. You guys might wanna get out of here."

"You're taking losing an eye… disturbingly well," Kyoko said, still obviously unsettled.

"Well, if Sayaka's hand could grow back, I'm hopin' an eye can too, and it's kinda weird. It doesn't hurt nearly as much as it should."

"This isn't over," Sayaka said, glaring at Kyoko. "Madoka and I will wait here until the person Ranma's calling arrives. You, get out."

"It is over," Ranma responded. "She'd hand you your ass in about five minutes."

"But I…" the blue haired girl started.

"Just go, take Madoka too, I think she's gunna pass out," Ranma ordered.

"I won't leave you here with her," Sayaka said, determined.

"Fine, I'm going," Kyoko said, attempting to regain some of her lost composure. Stopping for a moment to look uncertainly at the other redhead, she leapt up into the rafters.

HR.

Homura leapt from roof to roof, listening to the ringing in her ear. Three, four, five. She sighed in relief as the sound stopped, but her relief was short-lived as she heard the voice on the other end of the cell phone call. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Mrs. Kaname?" the dark haired girl asked. "It's Homura Akemi. Why did you answer Madoka's phone?"

"Still haven't managed to find her yet?" the older woman's voice came back somewhat sympathetic. "Her phone was sitting on her bed. I guess she forgot it when she dropped off her school things."

"Oh, I see..." Homura replied faintly.

The line was silent for a few moments. "Look, are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"No, everything's fine," Homura lied smoothly. "I was just really looking forward to going shopping today, that's all."

"Ah. Shopping trips with the girls," Mrs. Kaname sighed wistfully. "Those were the days. Still, it's unusual for Madoka to change her plans without telling everyone involved. Like I said, I'll be sure to tell her you're looking for her if she sees me first."

"Thank you, Mrs. Kaname," Homura said, hanging up. Frowning, she looked around the roof she was on and considered her options. Madoka hadn't been at any of the places she usually frequented, and when she'd gone to check, Sayaka had been missing too. It was a bit too early for the blue haired girl's usual patrol, and there shouldn't be a witch in her range for another couple of days. Could they have been taken out by a strong familiar? She hadn't really thought of that, but with Sayaka and the newcomer, Ranma, around that shouldn't be possible.

Catching sight of a familiar olive hairstyle on the street below her, the magical girl leapt off of the roof, landing softly. "Hitomi Shizuki?" she asked, calmly.

The girl in question turned around, surprised. "Oh, um, Miss Akemi, right?" she asked, nodding politely to the other girl.

Homura nodded back. "Have you seen Madoka or Sayaka? I'm looking for them," she said without preamble.

"Um, no, not since school ended, why?" the olive haired girl responded.

Homura's eyes narrowed. "Do you have any idea where they could be?" she queried intently.

I... don't really know," Hitomi replied, somewhat unnerved by the scrutinizing look she was being given. "Sayaka said something about a girls night out with Miss Asuka," at this she blushed for some reason, "but I have no idea what they were doing."

Homura resisted the urge to curse under her breath. "Thank you," she said, turning and walking off.

"You're... welcome?" Hitomi asked uncertainly, before turning to go on her way. A few seconds later, she turned back. "Maybe I could help... you look?" She trailed off, the black haired girl nowhere to be seen.

HR.

"Oh yeah, I was going to clear them all out… I'm such a dumbass," Kyoko muttered, as she sat in the crook between a support beam and a roof joist, staring out a dirty window. The girl she'd been fighting was waiting at the side of the road, a small trail of blood still visible dripping down her cheek. It was probably a good thing that the warehouse was in a less frequented part of the city or she'd have gathered a crowd by now.

The spear wielding magical girl let out a sigh of relief as a car pulled up and the waiting girl walked towards it, but she winced when she heard the yell of the driver. Ranma was making placating motions with her free hand as she got into the car, but judging from the still high volume of the responses, they weren't working.

"This shouldn't have happened this way," Kyoko muttered to herself. All she wanted to do was scare the others off so that she could have Mitakihara and its prime hunting grounds to herself. It had all gone wrong with that comment about Mami. What had originally been an obvious faint, the blocking of which would have led into a more viable real attack, had ended up nearly killing someone. If that Ranma girl hadn't managed to deflect at the last moment... the redhead shuddered.

As the driver of the car finished whatever they were doing and it pulled off, she leapt down from her hiding spot and shook her head. Dwelling on that wasn't important for the moment. Causing that injury had made a point, after all, hadn't it? She recalled the furious glare on the blue-haired girl's face. The problem was that it probably had made the wrong one.

HR.

"I can't believe that," Sayaka said, as she and Madoka sat on the bench waiting for the bus that would take them back home. "She just shows up, interrupts Ranma teaching me how to be a magical girl and stabs her in the face."

"Ranma seemed… well she wasn't… she seemed coherent," Madoka offered weakly.

"I should have done something, helped her out…" Sayaka grumbled. "Hey Kyubey, do you know that new magical girl?"

"I do," the small animal nodded from where it sat in Madoka's arms.

The blue haired girl clenched her fists. "Would it have made a difference if I'd helped Ranma?"

"Well, almost certainly," Kyubey answered. "Both of them seem very proud, though."

"I wonder why she just showed up and attacked?" Madoka asked. "She seemed fairly calm last time."

"It could be for any number of reasons," Kyubey responded. "She said she knew Mami Tomoe. She also could simply be making a grab for territory, or just doing it because she finds it fun."

"M… magical girls do things like that for fun?" Sayaka asked, horrified.

Kyubey nodded. "Some do, yes. Really, once she gets her power there isn't much to stop a magical girl from doing whatever she wants with it save another magical girl."

"How could someone abuse their power like that?" Sayaka rapidly clenched and unclenched her hand before standing, looking into the dusk sky. "Well... I'm not going to," she said, balling the hand into a fist. "I'm going to use my powers for what's right, and nothing else!"

"If that's what you think you should do," Kyubey responded neutrally.

END.

Okay, folks. Chapter 4 for your enjoyment. Please read, review and let us know what you think.

Jonakhensu: Wait, hold it! How are we here? Weren't we blown up last chapter?

Weebee: Huh, you've got a point there. Maybe sending Charlotte after Mami wasn't a good idea.

Mami: Ya' think?!

Sayaka: So… how are we un-blown up? I mean, I can heal but you guys should be screwed.

Homura: Proudly. I have saved you all using my power.

Kyoko: Wait… if you did that, shouldn't none of us remember Mami's little temper tantrum?

Mami: It was fully justified anger!

Kyoko: I don't say this often, but I think you need to go to Angry Bitches Anonymous more than I do.

Homura: Ignoring the stupid argument. The explanation for why you can still remember is… Muffin Button.

Madoka: But… that doesn't explain anything!

Weebee: Shut up, eating.

Jonakhensu: These muffins are pretty good. And Madoka, if you're going to bring brownies, you should bring enough for everyone.

Kyubey: Do these things have anything to do with the chapter anymore at this point?


	5. Chapter 5: Rest and Reconnaissance

Chapter 5: Rest and Reconnaissance.

"You are not going to school this morning, young lady." Ranma resisted the urge to rub at her left eye where a small patch of cloth shielded the injury from view as Suzuka stood in front of her, arms crossed.

"I told you, I'm fine," the redhead said, feeling a bit like a broken record. "The cuts're already gone, and there's definitely something going on with my eye."

"It was gouged out last night," Suzuka stated flatly. "That counts as more than 'something.'"

"I meant I think it's healing," Ranma responded irritably.

"Even if that is true, that means you want to go to school with an eye regenerating in its socket. If nothing else, that's got to be distracting." The older woman snorted. "The only reason I believed this at all was because you'd taken an injury like that and hadn't passed out in the thirty minutes it took me to get out to that warehouse."

Ranma opened her mouth to retort, "I've had…" but had to admit, at least to herself, that she didn't really have a very good response. Suzuka did have a bit of a point. "Actually, I think this is the worst single injury I've gotten."

"So you're staying home," Suzuka said evenly. "Now eat your breakfast."

For a moment, Ranma wondered why she didn't just take off as she turned and headed for the table. She didn't really owe the older woman anything, 'Rei' had been a construction of her wish. Then again, if she did leave, her primary motive for going to school, to check on Madoka and Sayaka, would become pretty hard anyways, and she'd have to find somewhere else to stay. She didn't have her tent, after all.

As Suzuka moved to join her at the table, she studiously tried to ignore the worried look on the older woman's face. 'Ah, who're you kidding, Saotome?' she thought to herself. 'You just don't want her to start sobbing like she did last night.'

HR.

"So, why are you coming along?" Sayaka asked as she, Madoka, and Homura entered the elevator. "I mean yesterday you were all about how Madoka shouldn't be hanging out with us anymore."

"I need to speak to Ranma," the black haired girl replied, not removing her gaze from the floor indicator as it ticked up.

Next to her, Madoka fidgeted slightly. "You don't want to… fight her or anything, do you?"

"That shouldn't be necessary," Homura replied.

Sayaka snorted sarcastically. "Oh, now that's an answer," she complained, as the elevator doors slid open and she walked out into the hallway beyond.

"What do you want with her?" Kyubey asked from his position in Madoka's arms.

"I'd rather keep that to myself," Homura said simply. The two of them shared a look for a moment.

Sayaka ignored this, knocking firmly on one of the apartment doors that lined the hallway. The three stood in silence for a few moments, before the door swung open to reveal an older brown haired woman on the other side. "Oh, hello," she said, surveying them curiously.

"Um, hello," Madoka said, bowing politely. "My name is Madoka Kaname, this is Sayaka Miki, Homura Akemi, and Kyu… that's all of us. Heh heh..."

"We're here to see Ranma," Sayaka continued when the other girl looked like she wasn't going to say anything else. "Is she here?"

The older woman nodded. "You're her school friends?" she asked, looking oddly at Madoka. "Come in."

The three girls did so, following the older woman into the apartment, where Ranma was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Your eye hasn't gotten better yet?" Sayaka asked, taking note of the patch that covered the redhead's left eye.

"Hi, how 'ya doin? Nice to see you again," Ranma responded, deadpan. "No, apparently you need more magic to heal eyes than hands."

"Um…" the blue haired girl said, nervously throwing a glance over at the brown haired woman, who was standing next to the door and studying the group passively.

"Suzuka already knows," Ranma explained. "Besides, she woulda figured something was funny when you thought anything needin' an eyepatch could heal overnight. There's already some other weird stuff going on, so I figured keeping the magical girl thing quiet was kinda pointless."

"And you're okay with your kid fighting monsters?" Sayaka asked, curiously eying the older woman.

"Not exactly 'okay' with it," Suzuka responded while rubbing her temples. "More resigned than anything."

"I… don't think my parents would react like that," Madoka contributed, wringing her hands.

"Probably not," Homura muttered, almost as though speaking to herself.

"Are all three of you… magical girls?" Suzuka asked, seeming to have trouble with the term.

"Madoka isn't," Ranma replied. "At least she wasn't the last time I checked."

"She still isn't," Homura said, flatly.

"Your sure your eye is going to heal?" Sayaka asked, nervously. "That… witch didn't poke it out permanently, right?"

"Oh, it's healing," Ranma nodded. "Just doesn't look all that pretty right now." Sayaka opened her mouth, but was cut off. "No, you don't wanna see it."

The other girl growled and clenched her right hand into a fist. "Next time I'm going to get her back for that."

"Hey, it's my eye remember?" Ranma shot back. "Besides, you're going to need some more practice before that. And it was a sparring accident more than anything else."

"You've got a strange definition of 'sparring accident,'" Sayaka grumbled, flopping down onto the couch.

"The attack was way too obvious," Ranma replied. "She was expecting me to dodge, then she'd have tried something else. A kick, I'm guessin'. Honestly, it was a pretty good feint, aside from the fact that I… didn't move."

"You're way too forgiving," the other girl complained. "If it was my eye, I'd be out for blood."

"Well, considering most of my friends tried to kill me at least once…" Ranma shrugged.

"An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind," Suzuka chipped in. "Though I would like to have a… talk with this girl."

"Ranma… you're kinda weird," Sayaka replied, bluntly.

"Tell me about it," Suzuka mumbled.

"So, did you guys just come to check on me?" Ranma asked, giving her 'adoptive mother' an irritated look.

"Well, when you didn't show up at school, we were worried," Madoka said, and then reached over her shoulder to pull a small folder from her bag. "We had to ask your homeroom teacher where you lived, so she gave us this homework."

"Gee thanks," Ranma responded sarcastically, accepting the papers and flipping through them. "Math looks easy, the English is about as stupid as I thought it'd be, and the history looks like it might actually be interestin'," she muttered under her breath.

Sayaka leaned in to take a look. "Yikes, I'm not looking forward to next year."

"It didn't look that bad," Madoka disagreed, taking a seat next to Sayaka.

"No opinion, Homura?" Ranma asked, a little unnerved at how quiet the black haired girl had been.

"I wanted to speak with you," Homura spoke up. "Preferably later and in private."

The pigtailed redhead blinked. "Um... okay I guess."

"How long do you think it'll be until you're back up and around?" Sayaka asked.

Ranma stood from the couch and flexed one arm. "Other than the eye I'm fine. I could probably go out tonigh-"

"No," Suzuka said with clear finality before turning to enter the apartment's small kitchen.

Ranma gave her an irritable look as she went. "Except that. Still, you should be fine on your own, just remember not to be flashy unless you need to, and DON'T go after the girl with the spear."

"I wouldn't even know where to look," Sayaka responded.

"Yeah, well she might look for you," Ranma countered. "Just use the Saotome Secret Technique."

"Hmm? I don't think you mentioned that before," Sayaka mused.

"Run like hell until you've got a better idea," Ranma stated simply. "Preferably after a big buildup that puts them on their guard."

"Aw man, that's not cool at all," Sayaka griped, hearing a chuckle from the kitchen.

"Saved my life more than a few times," Ranma disagreed.

"Does your… martial arts school have any more 'techniques' like that?" Madoka asked, the corner of her mouth turned up in an involuntary smile.

"Yeah, but hopefully I never have ta use the Crouch of the Wild Tiger or Carp on a Cutting Board… And I don't even wanna think about the Cradle from Hell."

"What are… you know what, I don't think I wanna know," Sayaka shook her head. Even Homura was looking a bit dubious by this point.

After an awkward silence, Suzuka spoke up. "So do any of you girls want to stay for supper? I need to know how much food to cook."

"That would be nice," Madoka called back, followed by Sayaka's agreement.

"I should be going," Homura said, turning and leaving.

"Is she allergic to social interaction or something?" the blue haired girl asked.

Ranma shrugged. "Or something."

HR.

"Okay, here we go, my first solo anti-witch patrol!" Sayaka said, pumping a fist into the air as she stood in front of Ranma's apartment building, Madoka next to her. "And I got free chicken to boot."

"You want to go now?" the pink haired girl asked, playing with the handle of her school case.

"Why not?" Sayaka shrugged. "And before you say anything about homework, we're saving the city, remember?"

"I'm… not sure if thinking like that's a good idea," Madoka countered. "If you skip too much homework you might fail."

"You've got a point," Sayaka admitted as the two girls began heading down the street. "Think I can get Hitomi to do it for me?"

Madoka shook her head. "She's really busy as it is. Besides, what about the tests?"

"Have Kyubey pass me your answers?" the blue haired girl asked hopefully.

"But that'd be cheating!" Madoka protested.

"Relax! I was just joking!" Sayaka said loudly, before muttering disappointedly under her breath. "I can get away with, erm, I've got to do it right now, though, while Ranma's down."

"Something seems wrong there…" Madoka said slowly, but yelped as Sayaka increased her walking speed.

"C'mon, we've got wicked witches to hunt!" the other girl yelled.

"You really shouldn't be yelling like that," Kyubey said. "Magical girls and witches are supposed to be a secret."

"That's another thing I don't get," Sayaka complained. "Why? I mean, a secret identity's cool and all, but wouldn't it be better if everyone knew about these things?"

"And if they knew about my ability to grant wishes to young girls?" the white-furred animal asked, flicking his tail.

The blue haired girl shuddered. "Yeah… that would be bad."

HR.

Ranma grinned to herself as she leapt from one building to the next, enjoying the sensations of wind in her hair and rapid movement. Admittedly, it was a bit wasteful, but then she'd been cooped up and unable to do anything for the past two days, and Sayaka wasn't with her tonight, having excused herself in order to help plan something for that hospitalized boy she liked. She had the advantage of well developed leg muscles, saving magic for more important things.

Quickly glancing down at her soul gem as she landed across from several local bars, she frowned. The stone had been getting disconcertingly dark, and she was starting to see the beginnings of the black marks that had appeared when she'd first overused magic. Honestly, that had been the only reason Suzuka had let her leave, especially since her eye was still in the process of regenerating, a white, pupil-less orb resting under the patch. "Can't believe I'm sayin' this, but I really need a witch right now," she grumbled, heading for her next target. She'd managed to find a familiar and kill it, but that didn't give her the grief seed she needed.

"I know, right? Shame some idiots keep killing off the familiars." The pigtailed martial artist stopped dead, one foot resting on the raised edge of the roof, before turning to see the other girl leaning casually against a ventilation duct, a stick of pocky hanging from her mouth.

"If you wanna fight, now's not the best time," she commented, lowering her foot.

"Not tonight. No weapon, see?" Kyoko responded, spreading her arms to her sides before crossing them across her chest. "I notice you and your little sword-wielding friend have been going through the familiars like a threshing machine over the last couple of days. A couple I had my eye on just sorta vanished, though I suppose it could have been the black haired one."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Ranma replied.

Kyoko shrugged. "Well, it is," she said matter-of-factly. "Look at your soul gem. If any of those familiars had matured into witches and you'd killed one, you would be fine, right?"

"I see your point," Ranma said, looking at her ring again. "That's how you do it, huh?"

The other redhead blinked. "I… did not expect that reaction," she admitted. "You and your little friend're gonna stop killing familiars, then?"

Ranma shook her head. "Whether Sayaka does is none of my business, but I doubt it. As for me, no."

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Kyoko asked, her teeth bared in a snarl. "It's pointless! You're wasting grief seeds, you just admitted it!"

"You weren't a fighter, were you?" Ranma asked. At Kyoko's confused expression, she shook her head. "Stupid question. It's why the squirrel not telling anyone anything pisses me off so bad. Yeah, I guess letting them grow'd be more efficient, but it'd also kill people. If you never-"

"Geez, here we go again," Kyoko interrupted, rolling her eyes. "It's the food chain. Familiars eat weak humans to become witches, then we kill them to get grief seeds. It's not that hard to figure out."

"Yeah, works great," Ranma shot back. "Except for the part where humans aren't animals."

"Well it's not our job to protect them!" Kyoko objected heatedly. "All we have to do is keep our soul gems clear."

The pigtailed redhead nodded. "Not your job, maybe. Supposed ta be mine."

"What do you mean by that," Kyoko asked, cocking her head and biting into a new stick of pocky.

Ranma rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm a martial artist. The old man hammered into my head that the point of learning to fight was to protect others who needed it, which… was pretty funny since we almost never did that, but it stuck with me. I get you never were a martial artist, hell, for all I know the squirrel tricked you into contracting by promising a supposedly never endin' cake, so I don't really care what you do." She leveled a glare at the other girl. "Just don't interfere with me. Or Sayaka, for that matter. She's one of the ones I'm defending."

"Nice speech, but that means you're telling me you're being willfully stupid because you've seen one too many martial arts movies!?" Kyoko said incredulously.

Ranma winced. "I hate those things. They ain't realistic at all." Shaking her head to bring herself back to the topic at hand, she continued, "You talked about territory before, well Mitakihara's ours, so either leave us alone, or just leave."

"You idiotic…" Kyoko started, summoning her spear and then holding herself back. "You know what? Not worth it. I don't beat up on cripples, and besides, you're going to run out of energy soon either way."

"And then you'll have another witch to kill, right?" Ranma needled offhand.

"...What?" the other redhead asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait, so… you didn't know that we turn into witches when our soul gems get too dark?" Ranma's face twisted in disgust. "So… you're saying we should let people die… and all you thought it was for was to keep your magic?"

"Of course," Kyoko replied. "Our magic keeps us alive, remember?"

"...Right," Ranma shook her head. "Sorry, wasn't thinkin' there."

"From what I've seen tonight, that's pretty common for you," Kyoko responded, obviously insulted. "Whatever, I'll just leave you to your bad Hong Kong kung-fu movie."

"Wait," Ranma said as the other magical girl turned. "I'm actually grateful that you did, but why'd you confront me about this if Sayaka's been killing familiars for the last two days?"

"Well, you're supposed to be her teacher, right?" Kyoko snorted. "God help her."

"That went… well," Ranma muttered, the other redhead disappearing into the night. She stood on the roof for a moment longer, considering what had been said. The problem was that Kyoko sort of had a point. Her soul gem was dangerously dark, no matter what she said about it, and she wasn't finding a witch.

Leaving familiars wasn't a solution she would accept, but what could she do about it? Turning and continuing her journey, she altered course slightly. Previously she'd been sticking to the areas Sayaka and Kyubey had pointed out, not wanting to comb every square inch of the city, but those promising spots had been in a rather small total area. It was about time to expand her search. "So much for sleep tonight," she muttered.

HR.

Homura watched from a low tree branch as the entrance to the labyrinth in the middle of the city park pulsed rapidly, the space around it distorting violently before breaking apart in a kaleidoscopic display of color to reveal Ranma standing with a grief seed in her hand. "Well, that was fun," the redhead muttered, dispelling her magical girl outfit and holding her soul gem in her other hand.

"Your soul gem," Homura spoke, actually a little surprised that the redhead didn't jump. "It's badly corrupted, but you got a grief seed less than five days ago."

"Yeah, well," Ranma pressed the gem to the black object, darkness flowing out of it rapidly. "Gave that one to Sayaka."

"Hn," the black haired girl grunted neutrally, approaching the other.

"Pretty busy night," Ranma commented. "Kyoko showed up earlier."

"I wanted to speak with you about Madoka," Homura said, bluntly. "Two days ago, where did you take her?"

"You really are a stalker, ain't ya?" Ranma replied, getting only narrowed eyes in response. "Look, you wanna tell me why you care? According to Madoka and Sayaka, you only met them a week ago. Did you go all Kuno and fall for her or something?"

"Did I wha…" Homura's normally passive expression cracked for a moment. "You don't understand, that isn't…"

"I don't care long as you don't kidnap her or something," the pigtailed redhead waved her off. "Just to make it clear, I'm not interested in Madoka."

Homura opened her mouth again, but then closed it without saying anything for a moment. Finally she said, "I just want to protect her."

"Fine," Ranma shrugged. "Whatever you say. Sayaka and I were training, and Madoka said she wanted to watch," she explained. "I found a place in the industrial district that was empty enough to do it without drawing much attention."

Homura turned away from the other magical girl. "You shouldn't get her involved."

"Tried that," Ranma shot back, "and she still almost got eaten by a witch." With a shake of the head, she added, "Besides, she wants to be involved."

"It doesn't matter what she wants!" Homura growled, frustration clear in her tone.

Ranma gave her a level look. "This ain't helping the whole creepy stalker bit, you know. Besides, I didn't see ya during the fight with that giant snake thing."

"I was there," Homura countered, paying no attention to the first half of the redhead's comment. "I would have interfered if she were in danger."

"I noticed you didn't say anything about saving Sayaka," Ranma noted. "And both of them were being attacked by a giant monster."

Homura nodded. "I wasn't expecting Sayaka Miki to contract and draw the witch's attention."

"I… don't think that thing needed much provoking," Ranma replied.

"You would be surprised," Homura said

"The thing was chasing Sayaka around and about to eat her. It bit off her hand!" Ranma exclaimed. Seeing that Homura's expression didn't change at all, she continued "And that doesn't seem to bother you at all."

"It doesn't matter," Homura replied in a somewhat strained tone. "All that matters is that Madoka Kaname remains safe and uncontracted."

Ranma looked dubious. "You don't want her to contract? If I hadn't shown up, she would have."

"No, she-" Homura was interrupted as Ranma spoke over her.

"Pinkest outfit I ever saw, and I've met Tsubasa," the redhead rattled off. "She'd use a bow. No way she wouldn't have contracted to save Sayaka."

"How do you know about Madoka's outfit and weapon?" Homura demanded, eyes narrowed and hand preparing to reach for a gun within her shield.

"Not really sure," Ranma admitted. "Ever since I contracted I… see things, sometimes. I saw Sayaka lose her hand, and then Madoka was a magical girl and, I'm guessing, shooting that witch with her bow."

"Is that how you found me when we fought the shadow witch?" Homura asked.

Ranma nodded.

"Given your weak offensive powers, a secondary ability like that could make sense," the black haired girl speculated to herself.

Apparently, though, Ranma had heard it as she frowned. "Yeah, that makes some sense. I mean the shield's pretty strong, but I lost a lot of power compared to before I contracted. Wouldn'ta had to spend ten minutes beating that witch to death with a stick if I could still risk using an Amiguriken or somethin' without draining way too much energy."

Homura thought for a few moments, before reaching into her shield and withdrawing a small, spherical device with a projection on top. "Take this," she said evenly, tossing the device at the other girl.

Ranma's eyes widened as she tracked the incoming projectile, leaping away on instinct.

"It's a practice grenade," Homura explained, having not moved an inch despite the fact that she was in the blast radius. "I want to teach you how to use them before I give you live ones."

"Wait, there're practice grenades?" Ranma asked, looking quizzically at the item in question. "There are some guys in China I sorta wanna kill now." Getting no responce from Homura, she reluctantly walked over to the black haired girl, bending down to pick up the grenade on the way.

"There is a four second delay, you…" Homura started, but was interrupted as the redhead gripped the weapon in her right hand, fingers securing the spoon, and pulled the pin, tossing it overhand towards a tree about forty feet away. "...already know how to use it," she finished, flatly.

"Long story," Ranma shrugged.

"The only difference from normal use is that you need to infuse weapons with a small amount of magic to make them work on Witches," Homura said, withdrawing a small backpack from behind her shield.

Ranma opened the top of the bag and blinked. "That's… a lot of explosives."

Homura nodded. "I could give you a weapon instead, if you're trained for them, but I've found that holding and loading ammunition without my abilities isn't easy."

"This kinda thing is definitely not what I pictured when I heard of 'magical girls,'" Ranma quipped, sliding the backpack on. "So why are you helping me, exactly? You made it pretty clear that you thought I was too weak and kinda dumb."

"You've stopped Madoka from contracting twice now," Homura explained. "I want you to keep doing so."

Ranma shook her head. "Well, I don't really want anyone contracting, either, though Madoka knows most of why it might be a bad idea already. If she really wanted to, unless she was being threatened into it by a witch or whatever, I wouldn't do anything to stop her other than askin' if she's nuts."

"I see," Homura said. "That will have to do." She turned and began to walk away, but stopped after only a few steps. "There's one more thing I wanted to warn you about. A very powerful witch is coming, and will arrive at the end of this month. If you and Sayaka Miki are really training, you should keep that in mind."

END.

Well, there we go. Another chapter, though this one's slightly small compared to the others. It was also our most heavily edited one (of this story at least), to date so we hope it doesn't suck.

Now, we hope you enjoyed. Please tell us what you think in a… wait, we know what's coming, just get it over with.

*Chirping crickets.*

C'mon, we know you're going to show up, so just do it.

*More crickets.*

Really? They're gone?

*Cicadas.*

We're free! We're finally...

Mami: Hey, you guys! Stop calling me cheese! I don't need that thing chasing me around again, okay?! I just got my body back, and if you make me lose it again before my next race I'll…

Weebee: Crap.

Jonakhensu: They're back…

A door hanging in space bursts open, unleashing a chattering, complaining tide of parodic magical girls. The word 'help' is heard among the noise.


	6. Chapter 6: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor

This chapter brought to you by "SixPerfections." Well not really, we were going to publish this chapter today either way, but found the coincidental readthrough and reviews as we were editing amusing.

Chapter 6: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor.

Madoka looked around nervously, taking in the two girls in front of her and the one calmly sitting on a box behind her as Kyubey sat equally calmly on her shoulder. "Now!" she yelled, and quickly backed up as one of the two in front of her burst into action, the other desperately bringing up her weapon to block a flurry of strikes. This went on for a little over a minute, the defensive fighter only getting one or two chances to fight back, each of which she ended up paying for in painful looking counter attacks.

Eventually the attacker leapt back, the tonfa she'd been using vanishing into mid-air. "Getting better," she nodded. "Think ya cut my sleeve this time."

"I still don't see what the point of this is," Homura spoke up from the box she was sitting on. "Walpurgisnacht isn't going to fight you in hand-to-hand combat."

"It helps with precision and gets her used to the weapon," Ranma responded. "Also, blocking's always good, and it's not like we can practice with our magic."

"There's also the possibility of fighting other magical girls, where hand-to-hand fighting ability could be useful," Kyubey chipped in.

"Let's… hope that doesn't happen," Madoka laughed nervously.

"Both of you have a point," the black haired girl admitted, lapsing back into silence.

"Is there a reason she's here?" Sayaka asked, crossing her arms irritably.

Ranma gave Madoka an unreadable look before shrugging. "She asked?"

"Well, couldn't she help out rather than just lurking back there?" the blue haired girl complained.

"I don't think you would like that," Homura replied flatly.

"Oh yeah?" Sayaka asked. "You don't seem all that…" She trailed off as Homura leveled a shotgun at her.

"Kinda hard to train against buckshot," Ranma muttered. "Guessin' you don't have beanbag rounds?"

"I could get some," Homura replied.

Ranma raised a hand to her chin. "That could be pretty good training."

"Y… you're not actually thinking of that, are you?" Madoka asked.

"It'd be a good substitute for magic attacks," Ranma answered. "Now I think of it, that'd work on both sides… you think you could get us a couple of those things along with those beanbag rounds?"

"Haven't you people ever heard of paintball guns?" Sayaka objected. "I'm not getting shot at with a shotgun."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Aw, c'mon, it doesn't hurt that bad."

"Your life before contracting must have been fascinating," Kyubey mused.

"Crouch of the Wild Tiger," Sayaka snickered.

Ranma's eyebrow twitched. "Knew I shouldn'ta told you what that was."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the blue haired girl grovelled, before losing composure on the fourth repetition and laying on the floor, starting to giggle.

"Y'know, if I was my old man I'd start in on a speech about my disrespectful student," Ranma said, before cracking her knuckles. "But since I'm not, get up. Madoka, get ready to start us off again, somebody needs to keep working on her blockin'."

"Think she's mad?" Sayaka asked as she stood.

"You're not actually going to hurt her, right?" Madoka asked in concern.

"Relax, I was only jokin," Ranma replied. As Sayaka sighed in relief, she continued, "mostly."

Madoka did her best to ignore that statement as the other two got back into position and she prepared to call out again. "Now!"

HR.

"So Kyosuke's going to be getting out of the hospital today?" Hitomi began, opening her gym locker and stuffing her school supplies into it.

"Yeah," Sayaka smiled over at her from her own locker. "It's gunna be great. What do you think, should I see if he wants to go out right when he comes back, or wait?"

"Y… you're planning to ask him out?" Hitomi asked, her voice catching slightly.

"Aw, c'mon," Sayaka rolled her eyes. "Please don't tell me you go for that 'you've gotta wait for the guy' thing. I knew you were traditional, but yikes."

"I… it's not that," Hitomi replied. "I just thought… never mind."

The blue haired girl looked at her friend strangely for a moment before turning back to her locker and beginning to take off her shirt. "I guess I can figure it out later, right now it's swimming time!"

Madoka laughed from where she sat on the bench between the rows of lockers. "Is there any sport you don't like?"

"Golf?" Sayaka offered. "But I'm not really sure if that's a sport." ["Now I think about it,"] she continued mentally, ["if I start dating Kyosuke, what'll I do about fighting witches? Balancing those never works out well in the comics."]

["Defeating the witches should be your top priority."] Sayaka's vision strayed to the end of the row of lockers, where Homura had one eye turned towards her. ["Getting involved with anyone is a bad idea."]

["So you can do this too, huh?"] she asked, curiously.

["It requires very little magic, and you aren't exactly restricting your transmission,"] the black haired girl answered. ["It wouldn't surprise me if Ranma could hear you."]

["We can speak that far?"] Sayaka exclaimed. ["Yo! Ranma, you there?"]

["I didn't know you could have someone telepathically yell in your ear,"] the pigtailed redhead's annoyed voice came back.

["Oh, uh, sorry,"] Sayaka responded, scratching her head sheepishly.

["So, did you need something, or…"] Ranma asked.

["Um, no, we're good,"] Sayaka said, somewhat subdued.

"Sayaka, are you all right?" Hitomi asked. "You've been standing there holding your swimsuit for thirty seconds."

"Oh," the magical girl laughed, beginning to put the outfit on. "It's nothing."

"She was probably just thinking about Kyosuke," Madoka said, standing and straightening her own suit.

"I was not," Sayaka responded with a blush, tugging the clips out of her hair and laying them, along with her soul gem ring, on the shelf in the top of her locker.

"You have to be more careful about that," Kyubey rebuked.

["Yeah yeah, I know,"] Sayaka waved him off, then blinked, looking over her shoulder to see the little animal perching on one of the lockers. ["Wait, you've been in here… the whole time."]

"Yes." Kyubey responded slowly, its tail flicking slightly.

["I'm not sure if I like you watching us change. I mean, you are a guy,"] the blue haired girl countered.

Nearby, Homura stopped and looked over at her incredulously. ["You honestly think it cares about what we look like naked?"]

["I… don't even know if he's really a… he,"] Madoka agreed. ["He sounds sort of gender neutral."]

"We don't have genders," Kyubey nodded. "It's just that some of your languages don't have the correct gender neutral pronouns, and you react badly to calling a living being 'it' for some reason even in most that do."

["That… makes sense,"] Sayaka lied. ["But I'm still not comfortable with having you in here when I change."]

"If you want, I could go somewhere else during that time," Kyubey offered.

"That'd be good, yeah," Sayaka agreed before heading towards the pool entrance. "Last one to the water's gotta put the stuff away!"

HR.

"You're leaving?" Kyoko turned to see Kyubey standing on top of one of the ticket booths nearby and shrugged, popping another potato chip into her mouth.

"The place is a little overpopulated, I think," she responded, turning back to the wall-mounted train schedule she'd previously been studying. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I was sure that suicidal idiot would have offed herself by now, but she hasn't and I've been watching those two play hero for over a week. There are probably a fair number of witches back home I can harvest."

"With how you spoke earlier I thought you would have tried doing something about that," the magical creature asked.

The girl snorted, eating another chip. "Honestly it'd be too much trouble," she replied. "The red one, at least, is going to fall soon either way. Probably the blue one too. The black one… she's a bit scary, but I think if it were just me and her we could share the place." She tilted her head. "I gotta wonder, though. Why're you so blood thirsty all of a sudden? I mean, you never told me not to attack anyone, but you've never encouraged it before."

"I knew you wanted this area," the animal answered. "It seemed like letting you know about the change here was the natural course of action."

"Yeah," Kyoko snorted, turning back to the tracks. "Except now I think about it, you only bothered telling me when that weird shield thing showed up in Tokyo." Her eyes narrowed. "And the kung-fu idiot uses a shield that acts a lot like that one did."

"That is a rather interesting coincidence," Kyubey nodded. "I don't entirely understand it myself."

"I'm sure you don't," Kyoko responded as the train pulled into the station. "Next time you want some dirty work done, ask someone else."

HR.

"I still say she was aiming it towards you," Sayaka grumbled as she and Madoka walked down the hall away from the gym, several other members of the class straggling along in front of and behind them.

"Homura was on your team, why would she aim it so that I could catch it?" the shorter girl objected. "I just got lucky, that's all."

"Yeah, well if that's it then I'm going to get lucky next time," the blue haired girl replied. "But for now I'm going to have to settle for food. What do ya think's on the lunch menu today?"

"The same stuff as always?" Madoka asked, confused.

"Yeah, probably," Sayaka said as the two turned into a shorter hallway. "I was just hoping…." She stopped in place, rubbing at the side of her face. "Is it getting cold in here?" she asked, shaking her head.

"It feels fine to me," Madoka decided.

"Maybe I should have taken it easier," the other girl responded. "That food's gotten even more important, I guess." She began moving again, but only made it about ten feet before she staggered over to a wall. "M… Madoka, I think something's really wrong."

"What is it?" the shorter girl asked, rushing up next to her.

"My eyes are all blurry, and I think I'm going numb," Sayaka stated, fear evident in her voice.

"W… we should go to the nurse," Madoka replied. "It's just past the cafeteria. Do you need me to help you?"

Sayaka nodded, and Madoka moved to drape one of the other girl's arms over her shoulder, however they only made it another five feet before Sayaka's legs suddenly gave out, the dead weight forcing the two girls forward.

"Sayaka!" Madoka exclaimed, rolling out from under her friend. Behind them, she could hear the murmuring of other curious students. Grabbing the other girl's head, she turned it so that she could see her closed eyes and held a hand in front of her mouth. "She… she's not breathing! Someone help!"

Panicking, the pink haired girl looked around, only to see Homura shouldering her way through the growing crowd in front of her. "Come on," the black haired girl urged, grabbing Sayaka and hauling her up onto her shoulder. "We need to get her to the nurse's office."

"Homura?" Madoka queried, surprised at the other girl's action, but following her regardless. The two made it to the nurse's office only a minute later, but Homura kept walking, reaching the end of the hall and turning down a side passage. "Where are we going?" Madoka asked nervously.

"The nurse can't see her," Homura replied. "With no vital signs she would be declared dead."

"What?!" Madoka yelped. "We have to-"

"Her soul gem is missing," Homura interrupted her. "Where is it?"

Madoka looked puzzled. "Soul gem? I… I don't understand."

"Her ring," Homura said, slowly. "The one that she got when she became a magical girl."

"Well, she took off her jewelry and put it in her locker before gym," Madoka started. "She always loses her hair clips if she doesn't and we end up having to search the bottom of the pool for them, so she…"

Homura ignored Madoka's rambling, entering an unoccupied classroom and setting Sayaka down in one of the desks. "Stay here, I'll be back," she ordered.

"She'll be all right?" Madoka asked, quietly. Homura didn't respond, turning and leaving the room. Sitting in the desk and waiting next to her friend, who apparently didn't have a heartbeat, wasn't breathing and was looking into the distance with a vacant stare should have taken an eternity, but it seemed more like five minutes when Homura reentered the room, holding a ring in one hand and a small lump of metal in the other.

Grasping Sayaka's limp hand, she slipped the ring onto the middle finger. The effect was immediate, the blue haired girl taking in a large gasp of air before beginning to move, straightening up in her chair.

"Huh? What happened?" she asked, looking around in confusion. "Did I fall asleep in class or something?"

"Sayaka, you're okay!" Madoka exclaimed, hugging the other girl tightly.

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I…" Sayaka trailed off as she caught sight of Homura. "Hey, is that my lock?"

"I didn't know your combination," the black haired girl explained.

"Why did you need to get into my locker that badly?" the blue haired girl asked, glaring at the other.

"You really should keep your soul gem nearby," Homura replied. "It's dangerous for you not to have it."

"Are you threatening me?" Sayaka demanded, her glare growing harder.

"No!" Madoka interrupted. "She helped. You… you fell on the way to the lunch room, and you weren't breathing, and I didn't know what to do, but Homura helped me get you in here and brought your soul gem back."

"But why?" Sayaka asked, the wind taken out of her indignation for a moment. "I felt fine before..."

Homura winced. "A magical girl can't get too far away from her soul gem," she explained, obviously picking her words carefully.

"Why?" Sayaka repeated. "I mean it lets me transform, but I didn't think…" She trailed off, her eyes flicking back to Madoka for a moment. "You said… I stopped breathing?"

The pink haired girl nodded. "Homura said your heart stopped, too," she reported, obviously still worried.

"But… I'm alive now," Sayaka said, flexing her right hand and then looking at her left. "Because of my soul gem? I… die without it?" She raised her left hand, looking into the ring and turning it from side to side for a moment. "Soul… gem," she said slowly, the expression on her face growing more and more pale. "My soul's in here… isn't it?"

Homura nodded reluctantly. "It happens to all magical girls when we contract."

Sayaka didn't speak for almost a minute, her eyes still locked on her soul gem. Eventually she stood, walking towards the classroom door. "I'm feeling a little better but decided to go home," she said, flatly.

"What?" Madoka asked, confused.

"Tell our teachers," Sayaka replied, turning down the hall.

"Sayaka, I…" Madoka started, stepping forward but being stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Homura shake her head.

HR.

Sayaka sat on a bench staring at her soul gem. She'd been doing this for the past two hours, and no real revelations had struck her past the first one. Her stomach felt like it was tied up in knots. Glancing up once more, she saw the entrance doors to the hospital swing open. Her heartbeat briefly increased as she saw Kyosuke exiting, being wheeled down a side ramp by his father.

The blue haired girl stood, stepping forward about a foot before stopping. "...Damn," she said quietly, turning back only to stifle the urge to jump, Kyubey sitting on the back of the bench she'd previously been sitting on. "What are you doing here?" she growled.

"Madoka mentioned that you had an accident at school," the small animal replied. "By your reaction, you didn't take it well."

An incredulous laugh burst out of the magical girl's throat. "Didn't take it well? I'm dead!" she yelled, getting strange looks from several people who were passing on the nearby sidewalk.

Kyubey leapt down from the bench's back to its seat. "So many of you react like that, and I can't understand it," he confessed. "You aren't dead, it's just that your soul is no longer housed in your body."

"That's a pretty big deal," Sayaka growled. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kyubey shook his head. "Not really." At the girl's incredulous look, he continued. "Some magical girls never realize the difference, and so many react the way you are now that I didn't think mentioning it to you would be a good idea. A shame, really, after Homura Akemi and Ranma Saotome handled it so well I thought that perhaps humans were adapting."

"R… Ranma knew?" the blue haired girl asked.

Kyubey nodded. "Yes, Homura told her."

"But… she didn't tell me," Sayaka slumped down onto the bench next to the small creature, once again staring at her soul gem. "So… why do you do this to us?"

"To some degree it is to help you," the Incubator explained. "With your soul gem the way it is, the risk of death while fighting a witch is much lower."

"How do you figure that?" Sayaka demanded.

"For one, any injury to your body can be repaired," Kyubey started in a lecturing tone. "Even complete exsanguination can be reversed so long as you have enough magic, and given the content of your wish, you are likely more resilient than most magical girls. The other reason is that you feel much less pain in this state than you would if your souls and bodies were still directly connected. A single blow from a witch could easily incapacitate most humans."

Sayaka laughed bitterly. "You killed us so we'd be better against witches, huh?"

"Really, you aren't dead. Your true selves are just within your soul gems now. I wonder if the reason Ranma didn't tell you was because she knew that you would react so badly." Kyubey stopped for a moment, twitching his tail. "It would be foolish of me to think that all humans would understand the truths of being a magical girl as quickly as someone as used to manipulating life force energy as she is, though with Homura Akemi as well..."

"I'm so sorry I'm normal!" Sayaka snapped, glaring at Kyubey, who just stared expressionlessly back as though waiting. "Yellin' at you isn't going to do anything though, is it?" She rapidly stood, and for a moment gripped her soul gem tightly before shaking her head. "Not worth it." She then turned and left.

HR.

"Hey Madoka, you been waitin' long?" Ranma asked, walking up to the pink haired girl where she stood at the bus stop near her apartment building.

"Just a few minutes," Madoka responded. "Where are we going tonight?"

"Not sure," Ranma replied, starting to walk. "Was thinkin' of continuing to look around east of here."

"Hmm," Madoka nodded.

The two spent almost a minute walking in companionable silence before Ranma spoke up. "So, you heard from Sayaka since lunch?"

The pink haired girl shook her head. "I tried calling her but she wouldn't answer. I hope she's all right."

"Oh, I'm fine, depending on how you look at it." The voice caused the two walking girls to stop, turning towards an alley where Sayaka stood in her magical girl outfit.

"Huh," Ranma tilted her head. "Thought you were goin' to visit violin boy again today? Welcome 'im home?"

Sayaka's teeth clenched. "I've got something to discuss with you instead."

"Sayaka?" Madoka asked. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that she knew about our soul gems!" the sword-wielding magical girl declared angrily. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Ranma scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess tellin' you something like that woulda been a good idea, but I sorta didn't think about it. I'm really sorry you had to find out about it the way you did."

"You… didn't think about telling me that we're zombies?" Sayaka asked, incredulously.

"Wait, what?" Ranma blinked. "Um, I haven't seen many zombie movies, but we ain't shamblin' around looking for brains."

"What else would you call us? Our bodies are dead and our souls are in… these things," Sayaka spat, gesturing down at her soul gem.

Ranma frowned. With what Madoka had told her about what had happened at lunch, that did sort of make sense… and also explained why she seemed only to be generating energy from her soul gem since contracting. "Okay, maybe you got a point," she admitted.

"That's all you've got to say?" Sayaka demanded.

"Not really much I can do about it at this point," Ranma shrugged. "Once the witches are handled then maybe we can find a way to fix-"

"We can't fix this!" Sayaka interrupted. "You can't just… get better from having your soul torn out! You…. were you ever human to begin with?"

"Wha…" Ranma asked, startled at the vehemence of the other's exclamation.

"Sayaka, I don't-" Madoka started, but was interrupted by her friend.

"You said it yourself that you haven't been a magical girl much longer than I have," Sayaka began. "You're so much better at hunting and fighting, you took a spear to the eye and said it was a training accident, you knew we would collapse without our soul gems, that we turn into witches," her voice was rising as she spoke, almost up to a shriek now, "and now you find out about this and think you can 'fix' it?!"

"Look, calm down," Ranma started, raising her hands placatingly and stepping towards the blue haired girl.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled back. "I… I'm not going to be hunting with you anymore. I… don't want to be like you!"

"I…" Ranma opened and closed her mouth several times, looking between Sayaka, who was glaring holes in her and a concerned looking Madoka. "That's what you think?" she asked, finally. Sayaka nodded. "Then I… guess we're done," Ranma replied, swallowing. "Lemme know if you need my help."

"I won't," Sayaka said, turning and walking away.

"Sayaka, wait!" Madoka called, moving to follow her.

"Hey, it's all right," Ranma responded, but Madoka didn't listen, continuing to run. When the two were out of easy eyesight in the dim night, she raised one hand to the corner of her eye, rubbing at it. Even after she'd gotten the patch off, the damned thing was far too sensitive.

HR.

"Sayaka, wait!" Madoka called as she hurried after her friend. She could see Sayaka look over her shoulder before coming to a stop and allowing her to catch up. With an extra burst of speed, the pink haired girl closed the distance between the two. She took several seconds to regain her breath before straightening. "Did you have to do that?"

"It's better this way," the other girl replied. "Even as a magical girl I can't stand behind someone else forever, if I'm stuck doing this, I want to do it my own way."

"But what you said to her…" Madoka complained. "You said she wasn't human! That's-"

"That's the truth," Sayaka responded flatly. "Neither of us are human anymore. It's just… like she's not even pretending! You can't just… take this much insanity and keep going like that, you can't!"

For a moment Madoka thought about telling her friend about exactly how she'd met Ranma, but that… would probably only make things worse. "People cope with things differently," she tried instead. "What you said… I think it really hurt her."

"I doubt it," Sayaka shook her head. "She'll just shrug it off like everything else. I don't want to end up like that, Madoka. It might not be how I thought it would, but I still want to be a hero, protect people because it's the right thing to do."

"You mean like what Ranma's doing?" Madoka asked.

"You… don't get it," Sayaka said, sounding frustrated. "You're not a magical girl." After a few seconds, her eyes widened. "Don't get me wrong, I think Homura had a point, you shouldn't BE a magical girl… no one should, but…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Look, I should probably start hunting, but I should take you home first."

"So you're not going to go back and talk to Ranma?" Madoka asked.

Sayaka grimaced. "I told you, no. Besides, she's probably long gone by now. You coming or not?"

Madoka looked back down the street for a moment before sighing. "I'm coming."

END.

Okay, we've really got to get more consistent, are we doing musical pun chapter titles or not? Um… maybe?

Kyoko: Given you've completely failed to think of one for four out of six chapters so far? Guessin' no.

Jonakhensu: Yeah, that's a fair-

Kyoko: I shouldn't be surprised, though. You wrote me OUT OF THE FIC this chapter, so you're obviously crap authors.

Madoka: They… they might bring you back.

Mami: Get in line, bitch.

Madoka: I'm… sure our authors know what they're doing.

Weebee: Thank you, Ma-

Homura: Annoyed. Of course they don't. They can't even get making up a name right.

Sayaka: Oh my god, we're dead! Now I'll never get the bitches! Not even pigtails could help me now!

Mami: Damn it, Sayaka, don't you start stealing Madoka's blow!

Weebee: Wait… everyone's acting like they do in abridged, aside from Sayaka who's acting as a weird fusion of that and a flanderized version of herself in the chapter? I'm… confused.

Madoka: Join the club.

Homura: Deadpan. Their minds are dark and lonely places.

Authors: Let's… just go. Don't forget to R&amp;R, yadda yadda….


	7. Chapter 7: What is Love

Chapter 7: What is Love.

When had it become routine to run around a city she barely knew in the middle of the night searching for monsters that bent reality? Ranma shook her head as she leapt to the next rooftop. Whenever that had been, it had. She frowned as her vision suddenly blurred, only to resolve into the image of Homura aiming an M-16 at her and pulling the trigger. Resisting the urge to jump, she came to a stop and watched interestedly, the dark haired girl tossing the rifle aside and throwing a pipe bomb. "How many of those does she go through?" the redhead muttered, as her vision went white.

When it cleared again, she was back where she started. "Looks like Homura got one," she muttered, frowning. There were almost never multiple witches in a single night, and she'd taken out four familiars already, so it was probably pointless, and in-advisable, to keep patrolling. Glancing down at her soul gem, she confirmed that it was still mostly blue. She wouldn't have anything to worry about for a while yet.

Turning slightly, she started back towards her apartment, still looking out for witches and familiars on the way. Landing on the balcony, she opened the door and noted sound from the television. "You're back early," Suzuka commented, glancing over at the opening door.

"Homura got the witch," Ranma replied, stepping in and shucking off her shoes. "I really wish you wouldn't keep stayin' up. You got work tomorrow, right?"

"I'm a big girl," the older woman smirked. "Besides, stimulants are wonderful things." Even as she said this, however, she turned off the television and stood, stretching. "Do you want anything to eat before bed?"

"I can get…" Ranma started, before her vision blurred again. Abruptly she was staring at a large mass of spinning blades that were headed directly for her. A sword was raised into her field of view and clashed against the blades, but was eventually torn out of its wielder's hands and tossed aside. The blades, no longer impeded, plunged forward and she was standing in the living room again. "Crap, gotta go!" she called, turning and charging back out to the balcony.

Suzuka watched her go before sighing, closing the balcony door and returning to the couch, flicking the TV back on. "I'm going to need a LOT of coffee tomorrow."

HR.

"I swear I'm gunna cut down the next windmill I see!" Sayaka growled, dodging the spinning witch as it came around again and sliced one of its familiars in half. She'd noticed that the witches she'd fought previously had all had motifs, but was completely lost as to what a giant windmill monster and wooden shoes in a grassy field were supposed to mean. Still, she supposed it didn't matter. The witch had taken some damage already, its blades chipped in several places and the stationary symbol in its center deeply scratched.

Summoning several swords out of the air, she gestured for them to fly forward, blowing up on contact. She pumped a fist in victory at this, but then cursed as she realized that the impacts hadn't changed the witch's course at all, and it was headed straight for her. Bringing up the sword she was holding in her right hand in a desperate defense, her eyes widened as a figure descended from above her, slamming a long stick into the witch's center and sending it off balance.

The blades carved large divots into the labyrinth's sod before it spun off, followed by three quickly thrown grenades. Upon their explosion, the labyrinth began to fade out. "You gotta be more careful," Ranma said, dusting off her hands.

"I was taking care of it," Sayaka disagreed. "I don't need your help."

"That block wouldn't have held and it would have chopped you in half at the stomach," the redhead disagreed. "You gotta be quicker on your feet."

"You don't know that," the blue haired magical girl objected. "You should really stop underestimating me constantly.

"I do know that," Ranma shot back. "I saw it, just like I saw that snake witch bite you in half. It's one of my powers, I think."

Sayaka looked dubious. "You have the power to see me die? Pretty specific, ain't it?"

"Not just you," Ranma shook her head. "I honestly don't know all of how it works, but-"

"So you could be wrong," Sayaka interrupted. "I said I didn't want you hunting with me and I meant it."

"I'm not…" Ranma stopped herself, taking a breath. "Look, I wanted to talk to you about that, too," she started. "I waited to see if you'd calm down a bit first, but we really should keep training together, at least. If that thing Homura says is coming is as bad as she thinks-"

"Then I'll help fight it as I am," Sayaka glared. "I'm not as pathetic as you think, alright?"

"Sayaka, I don't think…" Ranma trailed off. "Fine, I get it," she finally said, turning away. "But I'm not gunna let you or anyone else die, got it?"

"Yeah, whatever," Sayaka responded as the redhead turned to leave. Spotting something on the ground, the sword-wielding magical girl walked up to it and picked it up. "Hey, you forgot something!" she yelled.

"Hm?" Ranma asked, turning and raising her right hand to catch the grief seed that Sayaka had tossed. She looked down at it, confused.

"You keep what you kill," Sayaka shrugged.

Ranma glanced down at the other girl's stomach. "But your soul gem is…"

"Like I said, I can take care of myself," the blue haired girl said, turning and walking away.

HR.

"So this is new, you coming over to see me," Ranma said as Homura sat down across from her at the lunch table.

"I wanted to ask you some questions," the black haired girl replied. When Ranma only replied with a raised eyebrow, she continued, "what are you going to do after we defeat Walpurgisnacht?"

The redhead blinked. "After…" she thought for a moment. "I never really thought about it, I guess. I mean, with Sayaka," she gestured across the cafeteria with one hand, "it'd probably be pretty awkward to stay and I wanna find a way to fix things."

"I see," Homura nodded. "So you are going to leave to try and reverse your transformation into a magical girl?" At Ranma's nod, she opened her mouth as if to say something but then shut it again. Eventually she just stood. "Thank you," she said turning and walking off.

"You're… welcome?" Ranma replied. "That was… abrupt." She shrugged. She knew Homura wasn't all that sociable, but wondered why she cared about Ranma's plans after this big threat showed up and got its ass kicked. Then again, according to Kyoko some magical girls liked fighting over territory; maybe Homura was worried that the two of them would have to fight?

"Um… excuse me?" The pigtailed redhead looked up, surprised to see an olive haired girl standing at the end of her table and fidgeting with her fingers. "Hello," the girl said, bowing slightly. "I'm Hitomi Shizuki. We met a few weeks ago, remember?"

"Yeah…" Ranma said, slowly, wondering why the other girl's eyes looked so nervous and why everyone seemed to be interrupting her lunch today. "Somethin' up?"

"I just… wanted to ask you about Sayaka," the olive haired girl said, her fidgeting with her fingers getting worse.

After a long moment of silence, Ranma finally bit. "What about Sayaka?"

"Well, um," Hitomi started. "Do you know about Kyosuke? He's a boy from our class that was in the hospital after an accident. Sayaka always visited him, and a week ago she said she was going to ask him out but then she suddenly started acting depressed, and I noticed that you weren't joining her and Madoka for lunch anymore, and I was wondering if something was happening between you and her…" She quickly shut her mouth, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Oh, that," Ranma winced. "Sayaka's got some… issues goin' on right now," she said, trying to explain without alluding to magical girls or employing her horrible ability to lie. "Figured I should leave her alone until she figures it out, and as for Kyosuke… I've got no idea."

Hitomi took a moment to consider what Ranma had said. "Oh, I'm… sorry to hear that. I'm sure it will work out, though. Everyone deserves to be happy, right?"

Ranma scratched the back of her neck, confused. "Um… I guess?" The olive haired girl bowed again silently before turning to leave. Ranma turned back to her food once more, but paused before grabbing her chopsticks. First she looked back to where Madoka and Sayaka were still sitting, eating, and then glanced through the large window on one side of the cafeteria. Not seeing Kyoko charging at it with a spear or something, she went back to her rice.

HR.

"Come on, you can do this, be assertive!" Hitomi mumbled to herself, leaning against her locker and staring at her hands. He was back in school, she didn't have to work up the courage to visit him in the hospital anymore, all she had to do was confront Sayaka, who probably wasn't interested in him. "Come on, you can do this…" she repeated before she heard the distinctive sound of Madoka's voice talking about going somewhere later in the day.

Looking up, she saw the pink haired girl walking next to her target, who seemed to be listening with half an ear. Squaring her shoulders, she walked up to the two. "E-excuse me, Sayaka, can I speak with you for a moment alone?"

"What's up?" Sayaka asked.

"Um… I don't think Madoka should…" the olive haired girl started.

"I can just wait outside," Madoka offered, moving before either of the other two could respond. When the door closed behind her, Hitomi looked around for anyone else within easy earshot and then spoke.

"I know you always visited him in the hospital and said that you were going to ask him out," she started, "but Kyosuke's been back for almost a week. I… just wanted to tell you that… you're my friend, and I wanted you to know I'm going to ask him out." She caught herself holding her breath, waiting for the other girl's response.

Sayaka blinked. "You… want to date Kyosuke?"

Hitomi blushed. "Yes, I've always admired him and thought he was cute, but I knew that you two were close and I didn't want to…"

"That's great!" Sayaka interrupted, laughing, though it sounded forced. "He'd have to be a real jerk not to accept."

"You're… sure you don't mind?" Hitomi asked.

"No, of course not," Sayaka waved her off. "I was… just joking about asking him out, anyways."

A large weight seemed to lift from Hitomi's shoulders and she smiled. "That's good to hear," she started. She was about to turn, but stopped. "There's one other thing, though."

"Hmm?" Sayaka asked.

"I'm not going to pry too deeply," the olive haired girl started, "but I know something's been bothering you for the last week. I just think… that love is really important, and you shouldn't let anything get in the way. Even if it seems really important, or like it can't work for some reason, it might just be easy to clear up if you try and talk about it."

Sayaka froze for a moment, expressions passing over her face too quickly to be read. "Yeah… I guess at this point there isn't much to lose, huh?" she asked. "Thanks, Hitomi… could you hold off on asking Kyosuke for a while? I need to go talk to him."

"What? I…" Hitomi was taken aback at the sudden change of mind, but noticed that her friend was looking much more cheerful than she had all week. 'No!' she screamed inside her head, 'Say no!' "Yes, of course," she actually said, trying to restrain the disappointment in her tone. "Just to warn you though, don't stall too long or I'll ask him anyways."

"Right," Sayaka nodded. "Thanks Hitomi, I needed that!" She dashed past the olive haired girl and out of the school building, the door swinging shut behind her with a thunk.

"Damnit!" Hitomi hissed, kicking a locker and then looking around sheepishly to make sure no one had seen her.

HR.

"So first you guys set up in Mitakihara, now you're poaching here," Kyoko said, her spear levelled at Homura's back.

The black haired girl just studied the grief seed she'd just obtained, not seeming at all bothered by the other's threatening tone. "I wanted to talk to you and thought this would be the best way to get your attention," she explained.

"And piss me off," Kyoko added. "You've succeeded in both so what'dya want?"

"First," Homura said, turning and tossing the grief seed to the other girl, "I don't need that, and I did get it in your territory. Second, you know of Walpurgisnacht, right?"

Kyoko blinked down at the grief seed for a moment, and then pocketed it. "Mami told me about them," she answered. "Extremely powerful witches, tend to show up once a year, right?"

Homura nodded. "One will attack Mitakihara city on April 30th of this year. I want your help to fight it."

"Wait, how the hell would you know that?" the redhead demanded. "And why do you think I would help?"

"I've found a pattern in their appearances," the dark haired girl explained. "As for why you would help, you want Mitakihara, right? After Walpurgisnacht is defeated, I promise you that all of us will leave the city to you."

"Including red and blue?" Kyoko snorted. "That's likely."

"I have plans to deal with them," Homura responded. "Will you help or not?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Hell, I don't even know if you're right, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to go there on the thirtieth. If I see a giant witch, I'll attack it."

Homura nodded. "I would suggest meeting up with us before attacking. We will be near the eastern shelters."

Kyoko nodded back. "Now we got that all sorted out, get out of here and don't hunt in my territory again, got it?"

"Of course," Homura agreed, walking off.

"Man, she's creepy," Kyoko grumbled, dispelling her magical girl outfit and reaching into a pocket for a pretzel stick.

HR.

"I would like to see your predictions some time, Homura Akemi." Homura turned her head slightly to see Kyubey sitting on a wall nearby. "We have never predicted the emergence of a Walpurgisnacht before. One must wonder how you were able to."

"Talent," the black haired girl said shortly.

"Most magical girls would find that form of talent invaluable," the little animal replied.

Homura glared at him. "So you think I should share it with you, is that it?"

"It would make things substantially easier," Kyubey nodded.

"I don't really care about making your life easier, Incubator," she snapped.

"You should," Kyubey said. "The less energy we need to expend, the fewer magical girls we need to contract. You seem to dislike it when girls contract."

Homura's eyebrow twitched slightly. "Telling you wouldn't get you to stay away from Madoka."

"That is true," Kyubey replied. "Madoka Kaname is far too large an energy source for us to ignore."

"She's a person!" Homura yelled, turning and pulling a gun out of her shield, firing three shots in quick succession.

"Being a person and an energy source are not mutually exclusive," a second Kyubey said, stepping out next to the one she'd shot in the head. "I really wish you would stop doing that, it's such a waste of resources."

Homura turned away, not wanting to see the creature devouring the corpse. "Just leave," she snapped. "I'm not telling you anything, and I'm certainly not helping you."

"You've told us quite a lot," the second Incubator replied. "It's only a matter of time before we discover the rest, Homura Akemi."

HR.

"I can't believe this," Kyosuke muttered to himself as he leaned against the wall, his crutches propped next to him, studying the note. She'd actually slipped it into his shoe locker, whoever she was. At least, he hoped it was a she. He didn't think anyone actually did that. Still, here he was, leaning against the gym supply shed and waiting. Worst case scenario it was a stupid prank and he'd get to enjoy nature for half an hour or so before getting some ribbing from his friends.

Hearing a rustling of grass from nearby, he turned to see someone walking around the side of the building and blinked. "S… Sayaka?"

"Um, hi," she said, blushing and poking the tips of her fingers together.

"Um, you were the one who sent me the note?" the boy asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah," Sayaka replied, tentatively. "Look, things are really complicated, but I… really like you a lot."

The brown haired boy blushed slightly. He hadn't really thought of why she was always visiting while most of his other friends only did so once or twice, but it made sense. "I like you too, Sayaka, I…" he started, but was interrupted as she held up a hand.

"You should know some things, first," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "You know how your hand healed so suddenly? I did it." He blinked, staring at her in incomprehension. "There's this little… creature named Kyubey, he grants wishes, and you get powers and have to fight these things called 'Witches.'"

"Um, is this a pitch for some kind of manga or something?" the boy asked, the situation seeming to go in an odd direction.

"I'm serious!" Sayaka yelled, before holding up her left hand, a flash of blue light engulfing her body and dissipating to reveal an outfit that was a good deal skimpier than her school uniform, with a cape falling down her back.

"...Woah…" Kyosuke said, pushing away from the wall and hobbling over to grab the cape. "That's… pretty neat."

"That's what I thought at first, too," Sayaka admitted. "The problem is that Kyubey doesn't tell you everything." She gulped, and he could see that her hands were shaking. "When we change, he… tears our souls out of our bodies and puts them into our soul gems," she gestured at a small C shaped gem that surrounded her bellybutton. "Also, if we ever run out of energy we turn into witches."

"Sayaka, I…" Kyosuke staggered back against the wall. "This is… this is impossible, I mean, I saw you change, but… magical soul stealing monsters, and a wish to fix my hand? I…"

"I'm telling the truth!" the girl yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. "I love you, Kyosuke, but… I don't know, I'm… I'm not even human anymore!" Saying this, she held out her left arm, a sword materializing in her right hand.

"Wait, no!" Kyosuke yelled, lurching forward, but it was too late. Sayaka brought the blade down, her hand parting neatly from the stump of her arm and blood squirting from the wound. Having moved too quickly for his still healing legs, Kyosuke hit the ground in front of the girl, his face right next to her hand. Horrified, he scrambled back, blood covering half of his face. "Sayaka, what did you…" He asked, looking up at the girl to see her studying the stump dispassionately, before a bright blue circle with musical notations appeared around her forearm, flesh materializing as it moved forward to produce an entirely intact appendage.

"I barely even felt it," Sayaka said, her voice still shaking.

"God… what are you?" the boy blurted.

Sayaka reared back as though she'd been slapped. "I... I knew this wouldn't work…" she said, her voice choked, before turning and running away. Kyosuke just sat there, back pressed against the wall, staring fixedly at the hand that still lay on the grass.

HR.

"Is your friend all right?" Madoka's father asked as his daughter exited her bedroom, gently closing the door behind her.

"She's asleep," the pink haired girl replied.

"Did you find out what the problem was?" the older man asked.

"S-Sayaka-chan's been having a lot of trouble at school lately," Madoka said, nervously. "And I think she had a fight with a boy."

Madoka's father looked dubious. "She seemed pretty upset for just that. I suppose she'll be staying over?"

"Thanks Dad," Madoka said gratefully. "I'll go call her parents."

Her father just shook his head.

HR.

"Madoka, I need a little help out here." The pink haired girl rolled over on her spare futon, really wanting to pull her pillow over her head, but hearing a loud thud from outside, reluctantly threw off her covers. "Coming Dad," she called through the door, before wincing. Turning to check her bed, she blinked. The blankets had all been thrown off and Sayaka was gone.

Not bothering to change out of her pajamas, she pushed her bedroom door open to see her father pulling her mother up the stairs, the woman's arm slung around his neck.

"D'I ever tell ya how great you are, T'mhisa?" the woman slurred, her other hand pawing at his pants.

"Yes honey, I know," he replied, gently swatting it away. "Madoka, a little help here please?"

"I'm coming," she said, moving to assist her father. "Do you know when Sayaka left?"

"She left?" he asked, puzzled. "I didn't notice your bedroom door open since you went in to go to bed."

"Madoka had a friend over?" her mother asked, as the three took a step up the stairs. "S'good, shesh way too shy… should live a li'l."

"Yes, Mom," the pink haired girl said, having heard similar sentiments many times before. She took a second to look towards her bedroom, but unfortunately she was a little too busy to worry about Sayaka at the moment. "I really hope you're all right," she said, quietly.

"Oh, I'm fine!" her mother insisted. "Was only… fif… fifty-teen bottles."

"Yes, Mom," Madoka sighed.

HR.

"You really don't look so good," Ranma said, speaking for both herself and Homura as they sat across the table from Madoka, faint rings visible under the pink haired girl's eyes.

"I'm guessing neither of you have seen Sayaka either?" she asked.

"Not since yesterday," Ranma confirmed. "Somethin' wrong?"

"She came to my house last night," Madoka explained. "She was really upset and said something about Kyosuke, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong."

"Hmm," Homura said, inadvertently drawing the attention of the other two.

"You know something?" Ranma asked.

"No," the black haired girl replied, "but her wish was for Kyosuke Kamijo's benefit. If she disappeared after speaking with him, that isn't a good sign."

"Okay," Ranma said, looking around the lunch room. "Guy with the crutches, right?"

"Yes," Madoka said, blinking as the pigtailed girl stood and started across the lunch room. "Wait!" she yelled, but Ranma didn't even slow down.

"Hey, you Kyosuke?" the redhead asked, stopping at the table where the boy was sitting with several other male students from Madoka's class.

"Yes," the boy said, his eyes flickering from the serious seeming redhead to the stoic black haired girl who was coming up behind her, a nervous Madoka bringing up the rear.

"C'mon, we need to talk," Ranma said, offering a hand.

"Um…" Kyosuke said, reluctantly taking it. "What's going on?"

Ranma didn't respond, turning and helping the boy back towards their table.

"Okay, what's this about?" Kyosuke asked, sitting down.

"Can you please tell us what happened with Sayaka yesterday?" Madoka asked, deciding that letting Ranma do it would probably be a bad idea.

"S...Sayaka.." the boy said, his face turning pale. "She… cut off her hand."

"She what?" Ranma asked, flatly.

"She told me this story about magic and wishes, she said that she made a wish to heal my hand, and then she said something about not being human," the boy explained. "It sounded kind of crazy to me, and I said so, and then…"

"She cut off her hand to prove it to you," Homura finished.

"And of course the guy freaked out," Ranma nodded. "Guessin' Sayaka didn't take it well."

"Given what she believes about being a magical girl, definitely not," Homura agreed.

"Wait," Kyosuke interrupted. "So all of that stuff she said about magic and wishing… she really healed me? She gave up her soul for me?"

"If ya wanna put it that way," Ranma said. "We still have them on us, so it's not that big a deal."

"You have a strange definition of 'not that big a deal,'" Homura opined.

"So I've been told," Ranma muttered sourly.

"Um, look," Kyosuke said, tentatively. "I… don't know how to take all this, but it sounds like I owe Sayaka a lot. If you see her, tell her I want to talk to her again. Just… make sure she knows not to cut off her hand this time."

"We'll pass the message when we find her," Ranma agreed. "I'm goin'; tell the teachers I ate some bad tuna."

"I… I'm coming too!" Madoka decided, following the redhead.

"Apparently we shared the tuna," Homura said, following the other two.

"Um… could someone get me my crutches?" Kyosuke asked plaintively.

END.

Author's notes: Poor Hitomi, had her Yuri goggles on a bit too tight, we think.

Sayaka: Aww, but can't I have them both? Bi is a thing y'know.

Madoka: I see you've recovered from running around crying about being dead and pigtails…

Sayaka: Yeah, I think one of the authors got their mental wires crossed a bit there.

Kyoko: So… Sayaka, you gunna eat that hand?

Sayaka: What? No! No one is gunna eat that hand!

Kyoko: But… that'd be wasting food, and then I'd have ta kill ya.

Weebee: Um… I hate to tell you this Kyoko, but it's been a day in universe. The hand's probably already rotting.

Jonakhensu: Not to mention Kyosuke probably tossed it into a garbage bin somewhere.

Kyoko: B… but the food…

Homura: Irritated. Can we please get on with it? I want more scenes with my Waifu next chapter.

Weebee: Yeah… we think we just learned way more about Parody Kyoko than we wanted to know… Try to forget that, folks, we know we will. Please R&amp;R about the story, though!

Jonakhensu: Speak for yourself; I play a Lascarian.

Weebee: And absolutely no one will get that reference.

Jonakhensu: And if you do, shout out in a review.

Kyoko: Sayaka Miki, for wasting food, prepare to die!

Sayaka: Gyaaa!


	8. Chapter 8: Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

AN: We apologize that this chapter will, to quote the abridged series, get sucked into a vortex of eternal suffer.

Chapter 8: Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead.

"There's still no sign of her?" Madoka asked, finding that she had to speak up after twenty minutes of walking behind Homura, saying nothing.

"It isn't easy to track magical girls," the dark haired girl replied. "Our soul gems don't react to each other the way they do witches and familiars."

"So then… where are we going?" the pink haired girl asked, the two turning down a street that seemed completely arbitrary to her.

"I'm checking the places where she regularly patrols," Homura answered. The silence immediately returned, and Madoka caught herself wishing that she'd gone with Ranma when the two magical girls had split up. While the redhead was rather tactless, she was usually willing to keep up a conversation, and without that distraction her mind kept turning back on itself.

"Do… do you think we'll be able to find her?" she asked, several more quiet minutes having passed.

Homura didn't respond for a few long seconds. "I'm not sure. Madoka… there is a good chance that Sayaka Miki… is lost."

"No," Madoka shook her head. "She has to be all right," she said in an insistent, yet quiet voice, as she tried to convince herself.

"She… isn't suited to be a magical girl," Homura explained in a steady tone. "She wasn't ready to face the truths of it when she contracted, her falling was…"

"Stop it!" Madoka burst out. "How can you talk like that?"

Homura shook her head. "I just want you to know what to expect."

"Why do you always expect that?" Madoka asked, quietly. "You told us about how short the lives of magical girls were, about how hopeless fighting witches was… It can't be so bad, can it? There has to be a reason…"

Homura shook her head again. "Many magical girls go the way Sayaka is," she started. "So many don't know what they really want, and even if they do the hope their wish brought them eventually becomes despair. They become witches, or die in combat, and the labyrinth takes their bodies. Sayaka is too far gone, but I want you to understand."

"Then why… why are we even looking for her, if that's what you think?" Madoka asked, her tone quavering.

"I believe that Sayaka would not want to take any human life," Homura said, flatly.

"You… you're wrong!" Madoka said, loudly. "You've given up hope. I won't give up on Sayaka like that!" Turning, she began to run, darting down another side street and wracking her brain for ideas. She had to find Sayaka, and quickly. No matter what Homura said, there had to be hope for her.

HR.

"Three," Sayaka said, the weak labyrinth of the familiar dissipating as a long laceration across her face sealed shut with a blur of blue notes. "One more and I'm past my record." She laughed humorlessly, looking around. There were no other familiars in the immediate area, which was bad as it meant she would have to start looking again. This meant that she would have to start thinking again, rather than letting the pain and rush of battle blot out all thought.

"Wh… what are you?" She shook her head, trying to get the horrified voice and face to go away. It didn't matter. She'd known it wouldn't have worked, and had been a fool to listen to Hitomi's tripe about love conquering all.

"Why was I so stupid?" she mumbled. "Real life isn't like some story. A wish with no strings attached doesn't happen." She cursed to herself as she heard the call again. "She sounds pissed." It'd been rather easy to ignore at this range, and of course meant that she wasn't at all hard to avoid. "Just give up already," she muttered to herself, trying to ignore yet another mental shout from Ranma.

["Sayaka?! Where the hell are you?"] reverberated in her head. It was actually starting to give her a headache on top of everything else. Judging by how that one felt, it was time to turn left again.

"Sayaka?!" Wow, that one was a lot closer, and sounded different, too. "I found you!" Turning, she caught sight of Madoka charging down the street, sweat streaming down her face. The blue haired girl considered just turning to leave, but it looked like Madoka was about to pass out, so she reluctantly stayed put.

"Are you done?" she asked when the pink haired girl's panting had subsided somewhat, though she was still pressing the heel of one hand into her side.

"I'm so glad I found you," Madoka said. "We were so wo…" She cut herself off, her eyes drifting to the magical girl's stomach. "Your soul gem, it's… black."

Sayaka shrugged, summoning the artifact into her hand. "Yeah, I guess it is," she muttered, gazing in at the clouds of darkness that were engulfing the few remaining flickers of blue. It was almost hypnotic. "I guess I should go find a witch, huh?"

"Y… You can't fight a witch like that," Madoka said, appalled. "You'll die, or…"

"Maybe I will," Sayaka began to walk, her tone almost seeming casual. "Not sure that would be so bad."

Madoka followed, one hand still rubbing at her side. "We talked to Kyosuke," she started. "He said he wants to see you again and…"

"What could he possibly have to talk to me about?" Sayaka asked, her voice cracking for the first time since she'd started speaking to the other girl. "He already knows I'm dead, what else is there to…"

"You're not dead!" Madoka exclaimed.

"Then what the hell am I?" Sayaka turned a glare back at her. She would have yelled, but it was too much effort, she simply loaded her look with as much contempt as she could manage. "You don't understand so stop talking like you do."

"Sayaka, I…" Madoka began, but was ignored, the other girl increasing her pace. "He was just surprised! You chopped off your hand, how was he supposed to react?!"

"He reacted the right way," Sayaka nodded. "You, on the other hand…"

"I just want to help, please," Madoka said, quietly.

"Then help someone else," Sayaka retorted, now running.

HR.

"I don't care if she's three years younger than me and sulkin' over her boyfriend, when I find her I'm gunna punch her into next week," Ranma growled to herself, leaping from roof to roof. There was still no sign of her quarry, and she'd had to stop calling for her several minutes before when she realized that the magic needed to cover such a wide range was actually having a noticeable effect on her soul gem.

How the hell had this gone so wrong? Okay, the backfiring declaration of love she'd seen coming, but it was almost as though Sayaka started deliberately self-destructing after she found out about soul gems, and unfortunately there was very little she could do about someone trying to kill themselves. Still, she had the power, at least according to the damned squirrel and her wish.

Hearing her cell phone ring, she pulled it out and checked the number before answering. "Ranma?" Madoka said, sounding scared. "I found Sayaka, she's fighting a witch. She told me to stay outside, but her soul gem was black, and…"

"Where are you?" the pigtailed martial artist demanded. Madoka rattled off a street address several blocks from the school, and the redhead cursed, changing course. "I'm on my way."

"You… should probably hurry," the pink haired girl said, nervously.

"Yeah, I figured that," Ranma shot back, though she picked up the pace regardless.

Several minutes later, she leapt over the last wall separating her from the labyrinth, spotting Madoka waiting nervously nearby and the floating point of distorted reality flashing intermittently. Not even breaking stride, she charged ahead, holding out one hand to force the entrance open and diving in.

She had to shield her eyes when she entered the labyrinth, white light exploding from all around her. Leaping to one side in response to an expected attack, she heard something crashing behind her. When her eyes adjusted, she was still seeing everything in the form of shadows, including her own hand as she waved it in front of her face. "Well this is new," she muttered, shoving a tonfa into the dog-headed shadow-figure that had just tried to bite her in half.

Moving forward, she heard yelling and banging ahead, but couldn't tell what was causing it until she got close enough to resolve the image of Sayaka raising her sword and repeatedly smashing it into a much larger, fiercer looking dog-headed shadow. "Look out!" she yelled as two other heads, one much sleeker and one with longer ears, moved in on either side of the blue haired girl.

Sayaka moved her blade to bat one away, but still apparently didn't notice the other, which latched on to her left leg. She violently pulled free, shadowed strands of blood flying from the wound as she jumped back. Ranma grabbed her, supporting her weak side. "I told you not to interfere," she growled, her leg regenerating.

"And I told YOU I wasn't goin' to just let you die!" Ranma snarled back. "You taken a look at your soul gem lately?"

"Did your mighty power tell you I was going to die again?" the sword-wielding magical girl asked, her voice practically dripping sarcasm.

"Well, no-"

"Then butt out!" Sayaka interrupted Ranma's response and vaulted back at the witch.

The redhead clenched her teeth, and then turned to a familiar who was moving in her direction. "Whatever you say," she said under her breath, launching herself at it. She tried not to look at Sayaka's fight, as it made her cringe every time she did. The other girl was abandoning tactics almost completely, allowing her healing abilities to make up for any damage she took and playing the most brutal game of shot for shot in history. "If she's in real trouble, I'll see it," she reassured herself, but something in her gut kept twisting.

Ranma was forced to use one of her dwindling stock of grenades on one of the familiars, as several had ganged up on her at once, when Sayaka came back into view. She was still hacking at the witch, though her opponent stopped trying to bite her, instead hitting her in the chest with a blow that looked like it shattered bones as the blue haired girl flew backwards, curling up around her stomach on the ground.

When she lay, unmoving for several seconds, Ranma bolted forward, her shield springing up around the two of them. "Damn it, are you…" She cut herself off, it was a stupid question, the other magical girl's face was twisted in pain.

Looking around, the redhead confirmed that she'd cleared out the small number of familiars the witch had created, and dropped her shield, lunging towards it and hitting its canine head in the snout with her tonfa. She fought as quickly and brutally as she could, uncertain if any new familiars would show up to attack Sayaka, using the remaining weapons Homura had given her freely, but unfortunately she wasn't doing enough damage to put the witch down, when suddenly her vision blurred.

"Shit, not now…" she hissed to herself, raising her shield and wincing as she felt several impacts on it. What was playing out before her visually, however, took her attention within a few seconds. She was looking down on… herself, lashes of shadow striking around her as she dodged, when the over-bright labyrinth was suddenly engulfed in red light. Several rapidly spinning wheels materialized on either side of her viewpoint, moving inward, and she was abruptly standing where she had been before, shadow-animals battering at her shield.

"What the hell?" she asked, turning as a flash of black appeared in the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Sayaka, now sprawled out on the floor, a giant image of her blackened soul gem hovering over her body. Ripples of distorted space seemed to spread out from it, wiping away the witch's labyrinth and replacing it with red light and black scaffolding. "Is she… becoming a witch?"

The pigtailed martial artist dropped her shield and leapt towards the other magical girl, but was blown back by another pulse of darkness, a form taking shape within it, much larger than Sayaka. As it solidified and its labyrinth continued to overtake the other, the witch within became clearly visible as an armor clad form with a fish tail and a heart-shaped upward-turned collar. It raised one hand, in which it still held a sword, as several wheels materialized around it, spinning towards Ranma and the shadow witch.

Ranma managed to shove herself off of the wheel that came for her, but the shadowed witch wasn't so lucky, three wheels bisecting it before it faded out of existence, only its grief seed remaining. Landing back on the ground, the pigtailed martial artist watched in horrified fascination as the white labyrinth completely vanished, familiars beginning to take shape out of the scaffolding of the giant dome she now found herself standing at the bottom of.

Summoning her soul gem into her hand, she frowned at it. It had darkened considerably, to the point where she needed a grief seed soon, and her pack felt very light. "Well, at least I can do something about this," Ranma muttered, returning the gem to her neck, taking a deep breath and rolling to the side to avoid a wheel that was coming straight towards her.

Running from the witch, her shield sprang up to deflect another of the giant wheels that did its best to slice her in half, before she began leaping up the scaffolding on the side of the massive dome, springing off into space.

She threw the last of the explosives Homura had given her in the witch's direction, bouncing off of yet another wheel in order to grab the shadow witch's grief seed, which was still floating where its owner had been destroyed. Pressing it into her neck, she could almost feel the lightening weight as darkness was pulled from her soul gem. Landing on the ground again, she looked up at the massive witch that was now looming over her, waving its sword around like a demented orchestra conductor as a multitude of violin wielding familiars began playing a sad classical piece.

"Sayaka…" she said, unsure how to finish the sentence. Giving up, she launched herself towards the witch.

HR.

Madoka sat on the ground near the entrance to the labyrinth wringing her hands so hard they were beginning to hurt. Unfortunately, she had nothing else to really do. She didn't know what was going on inside of it, though there had been a large explosion of light a couple of minutes before. She desperately wanted to just go in, but knew that it would be more difficult for Ranma and Sayaka to fight if they were protecting her. "I wish there was something I could do," she said to herself, gazing into the distortion as it continued flashing.

"There is, you know." The pink haired girl flinched, turning rapidly to see Kyubey sitting calmly on the wall Ranma had previously lept over. "You could help them, if you want."

She looked down at her hands. "I… I can't. After all the things they told me, you're still asking?"

"Even with all you know, if there's something important enough, you'll contract for it," the little animal responded. "The fight in there is quite violent."

"Homura told me," Madoka said quietly. "This has happened before, so many magical girls, and you keep doing it? It causes so much misery…"

"Our relationship is a mutually beneficial one," Kyubey disagreed. "When she contracts, a magical girl can have a miracle happen, something that violates the laws of reality. You think that isn't a fair trade?"

"It isn't!" Madoka insisted. "What Homura described… it's so horrible. Sayaka is…"

"But you could help," the creature leapt off of the wall and stepped towards her. "You would be one of the most powerful magical girls we've ever seen, and could grant one of the most powerful miracles."

"Could I… help Sayaka?" the pink haired girl asked, tentatively.

"Nearly anything you imagine would be possible," Kyubey replied.

Madoka looked back at the labyrinth's distortion. "I… I want to help," she said, returning her gaze to her hands. "All this time I've just been sitting here watching, trying to support everyone, but I… I wish…" Kyubey leaned forward expectantly.

The two were interrupted by the sound of the labyrinth fading, a form falling to the ground with a grunt of pain. Turning rapidly back towards it, Madoka's eyes widened as she saw Ranma laying there, panting and clutching a grief seed. "Ranma!" Madoka called, running over to her. "Where's…"

"She became a witch," the redhead said, her eyes distant. "I… should've seen it coming, but I didn't. I'm… sorry."

"Sayaka's a witch?" Madoka asked, her hands rising to her mouth.

"I'm doin' great at 'protectin' magical girls," the redhead said bitterly, staring fixedly at the sky.

"Kyubey, I… I want to make a wish," Madoka said, her voice becoming firmer as she did.

"What?" Ranma asked, rolling over and forcing herself to a sitting position.

"I wish," Madoka started, closing her eyes in thought. She was startled out of her train of thought as she heard a loud squelching sound. Opening her eyes, she looked down and leapt back, seeing Kyubey laying on the ground, a large portion of his head caved in, Ranma standing unsteadily over him. "What… Why did you do that?" she asked, horrified.

"You really think it woulda worked?" the redhead demanded. "Sayaka wished for that guy's hand, 'n she ended up dead. I wished to be able to protect magical girls and I had to… to kill her."

"That isn't our fault." The two girls spun to see a second Kyubey sitting on the fence. "I would blame what happened to Sayaka more on her wish than anything else. For you, you wished to have the ability to save magical girls; that doesn't mean that you will always succeed."

"How the hell does that make any kind of sense?" Ranma growled, glaring at the second Kyubey as Madoka looked between the two. "I didn't see her become a witch! That's supposed to be what helps me keep 'em alive, right?"

"Becoming a witch isn't death," Kyubey explained, reasonably. "It's merely the mature form of the magical girl. Her death after that was your doing."

Ranma raised a fist, but then stopped herself. "Let's go Madoka," she said in a somewhat resigned tone, kicking the Kyubey corpse out of her way as she started walking. Madoka looked between the dead and living Kyubey one more time, before turning and reluctantly following Ranma.

HR.

"I'm home," Ranma said as she stumbled through the apartment's door.

"Welcome… home," Suzuka trailed off as she saw the younger girl's face. "You look like somebody died." Ranma flinched. "Ah… crap," she muttered, going over to envelop Ranma in a hug.

Ranma's arms moved up as if to push away, but she stopped. "I screwed up," she started. "Sayaka's soul gem got too heavily tainted while we were fighting."

Suzuka glanced quickly at her adoptive daughter's left hand and frowned. "Yours doesn't look very good," she offered.

"Yeah," Ranma nodded. "Guess that's what happens when you fight two witches in a row."

The brown haired woman gently led her further into the living room and over to the couch. "So that girl I met two weeks ago is…" she began, trying to remember everything Ranma had told her about magical girls.

"She's dead," the younger girl replied. "It was… just so damned stupid. The thing that pushed her over the edge was this guy she liked."

'Hardly uncommon in high school,' Suzuka thought, but bit it back before she could say it. "We have to report this to-"

"And say what?" Ranma cut her off. "Oh hello officers, yeah, my friend turned into a giant monster with a fish tail and I shoved a tonfa through her head!" Her voice had risen by this time, and the last sentence had ended with a slight hysterical giggle. "And her body disappeared with the labyrinth!"

"When you put it that way…" Suzuka conceded, rubbing her adoptive daughter's back gently. The two remained silent for almost thirty seconds before Ranma spoke again.

"It's funny... I thought things were so much worse in Nerima. One time a guy almost cut me in half with a blade of compressed air... Now I think of it, that happened more than once, Akane got all her water drained out and turned into a doll, but… no one actually died. Everything was so chaotic and violent, but… no one really got hurt." She thought for a moment. "Other than Saffron, but… he got better."

"Re-Ranma," Suzuka said slowly. "It's a tragedy, but sometimes people die. We have to-"

"I was supposed to be helping her!" Ranma cut her off again. "I was supposed to be so much more experienced because of all the fighting I'd done and I didn't know what the hell I was doing!" The redhead swallowed rapidly several times, her eyes visibly red.

"It's all right," Suzuka said softly. "You can cry."

Ranma stood quickly. "No, I'm… fine," she said, walking across the room. "I'm goin' ta bed."

"Ranma…" Suzuka said, standing herself, but she was answered by the redhead's slamming bedroom door. She stared at the painted wood for a long moment, considering going into the room, but then her shoulders slumped. "She doesn't act like Rei, you know that," she spoke to herself.

HR.

Homura felt a distinct sense of deja vu, well, more than usual, as she took a seat across from a tired-eyed redhead in the cafeteria. "It's weird that you're here and she's not," Ranma spoke, not looking up from her tray. "Aren't you afraid that the squirrel's gunna contract her while you're not around?"

"The danger of that passed, for the moment, after you interrupted it last night," she responded levelly. "That's three."

"Three?" Ranma finally looked up.

"Three times you've kept her from contracting," Homura explained.

"Yeah, well," Ranma shrugged, taking Sayaka's grief seed out of her pocket and rolling it around in her right hand. "No point getting another one killed, right?"

Homura studied her for a moment. "I see," she said, calmly. "Sayaka Miki's death wasn't your fault. It would have happened regardless."

"Y'know," the redhead said with a mild glare, "When ya say crap like that I sorta wanna know the same thing as the squirrel. How the hell do you know?"

"I… can't tell you," Homura admitted. Seeing Ranma open her mouth, she raised a hand. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but the Incubators can't find out, and you wouldn't believe me."

"I'd believe a lot of things," Ranma said, dropping the grief seed on her tray and rolling it around with one finger. "Hell, for all I know you're a time traveler."

Homura immediately turned her head, sweeping the room looking for any Incubators, but sighed in relief when she saw none.

"Wait," Ranma said, catching the grief seed in her hand. "You actually are a time traveler?"

"You shouldn't say that out loud," she said uncomfortably, "And don't say it telepathically, either, I'm unsure if the Incubators can intercept it."

"So… that's why Madoka can't contract?" Ranma guessed. "Something bad happens in the future if she does? And it's how you know about that Walpurgisnacht thing."

Homura nodded.

"So," she said, looking back down at her tray. "Did I fail to save Sayaka where you came from too?"

"You… weren't there," the dark haired girl admitted. "But Sayaka Miki is not suited to be a magical girl."

Ranma gave her an incredulous look. "You can be suited to it?"

"...Less unsuited," she clarified.

"Yeah, well," Ranma began rolling the grief seed again. "I should have been able to help."

"Perhaps, if you'd had more information," Homura said. "But if that's the problem, you could easily blame me for not telling you, and that wouldn't bother me. Still, you should probably use that grief seed."

"Huh?" Ranma said, catching it again.

The black haired girl gestured to Ranma's left hand. "Your sadness over Sayaka's death may be real, but a darkened grief seed will prevent you from dealing with it properly."

"Can't have that," the redhead said, somewhat bitterly. "Then I wouldn't be at top shape for that super-witch that's coming."

"Agreed," Homura said bluntly. "But it's also good for you."

Ranma chuckled. "Okay, gotta admit," she said, "I like you better than the squirrel." Homura merely nodded again. Reluctantly, Ranma held her soul gem ring up to Sayaka's grief seed, the darkness flowing from one to the other. "Don't worry, I'll be there for this Walpurgis-thing," she said firmly.

Homura only stood and turned to leave.

END.

Sayaka: Aw, crap. Well I'm dead.

Kyoko: Are you guys gunna have any characters LEFT by the time you're done?

Weebee: Well, the anime didn't.

Homura: With great pride. I survived.

Kyoko: And we're all eternally grateful for that, I'm sure.

Sayaka: What the hell are you complaining about? You LIVE in the anime. And you don't even spend half of it dead for tax reasons like Mami.

Mami: I keep telling you, it was an insurance scam so I could get a new ride.

Madoka: Um, if you keep announcing that, it's not going to work.

Mami: Madoka…

Madoka: Right, right. Drugs, corner, whatever. I don't even care anymore.

Authors: They've reached maximum apathy. This is the danger of overusing running gags, folks.

Kyoko: Did we ask you? Shut up and keep going, word monkeys. I expect my epic return to be glorious.

Authors: We bet you wouldn't treat your own director this way…

Kyoko: Bitch, please. I LIKE her and I threatened to make her eat broken glass!

Madoka: To be fair that was technically… why am I even bothering?

Weebee: Because it's your shtick? Speaking of which, blah blah, R&amp;R, have a nice day.

Jonakhensu: Wow, no one gives a damn today.

Weebee: Can't, too depressing.


	9. Chapter 9: Surgam Identidem

Okay, folks, get out your big-ass drums, violins, bells and ominous chanting. She's heeeere. If you don't know what we're talking about, check out the Madoka Magica soundtrack on youtube or wherever. No, seriously, do it. It's awesome. Start with this chapter's title.

Just a note about notes. DO NOT read the endnotes before the fic. We know it's unlikely, but still, we've heard of people who do it. Having said that, if you read this chapter and want to kill us in our sleep, it may be a good idea to read them before stomping off to find your murder weapon of choice. Basically if you want to say the same thing as Kyoko, Madoka's right. We know what we're doing… probably.

Chapter 9: Surgam Identidem.

"Ranma, you need to wake up," Suzuka's voice came through the door, followed by a hard knock. The redhead just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to get the image out of her head. Repeating the fight with the two witches a week and a half ago, with the added wrinkle that Sayaka begged for her life before the finishing blow wasn't a pleasant experience, and she'd been having the dream multiple times. "Ranma!" Suzuka's voice was definitely strained.

"I'm comin'," the pigtailed martial artist called back, rolling out of bed and blinking at the alarm clock next to it. "Uh," she asked, "why're you waking me up at 6:00?"

"There's a major storm coming," Suzuka explained. "I have to get you into an evacuation shelter and get down to the station before it starts."

Ranma paused after rapidly pulling a shirt over her head. "Major storm, huh?" She glanced at the calendar next to the door, and then stepped to the window, squinting out into the dark, overcast city. "I… don't think this is a normal storm." Picking up her phone, she paged down the list of numbers and selected one, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Hello?" Homura said, her voice sounding a bit odd.

"So I'm guessin' this big storm's that witch?" Ranma asked without preamble.

"Storm?" There were several seconds of rustling before the dark haired girl continued. "Yes. To everyone else, it appears as a super cell."

"A what?" Ranma asked, cluelessly.

Homura sighed. "A really big storm capable of creating tornadoes."

"You okay?" Ranma asked, tugging on her slacks. "You sound tired."

"You woke me up," Homura replied, bluntly. "I spent most of last night preparing."

"Ah, sorry," Ranma said scratching the back of her head.

"Don't apologize," Homura replied. "Just be sure to be at the meeting point in an hour and a half."

"Yeah, that might-" Ranma started, before being interrupted.

"Ranma! Are you ready in there?" Suzuka was sounding annoyed by this point.

"...be a problem," the redhead finished.

"Figure it out," the dark haired girl ordered, before hanging up.

Ranma glared at her phone's display window. "Well that was helpful," she muttered, slipping it into her pocket and heading for the door. When she entered the living room, she saw Suzuka waiting by the couch in her paramedic uniform, looking impatient.

"Are you ready to go?" the older woman asked, fidgeting with her car keys.

"I can't stay in the shelter," Ranma replied.

"What?" Suzuka said, flatly. "Ranma, if this is about that monster fighting thing, I don't think now is the time, and if it's about anything else, the answer is definitely no. This storm is dangerous."

"This storm is the witch."

"The storm is the witch?" Suzuka repeated. "How does that work?"

"Well," Ranma started before being interrupted.

"Never mind, we need to get going, and the shelter is on the way to the station. You can explain while I drive," Suzuka decided.

Ranma sighed in resignation and nodded. "I'm meeting Homura by the shelter, so the ride wouldn't hurt."

"In other words, you could have just taken off without telling me," Suzuka said, pulling on her jacket and pulling open the front door. "I… kind of wish you did, come to think of it…"

Ranma shook her head. "Can't really lie to save my life."

Suzuka chuckled. "And here I was crediting you with being responsible."

"Well yeah, there's that too," the redhead grumbled.

HR.

'Come in on the 30th,' Kyoko thought, running down the road with half of a mochi flavored kit-kat bar hanging out of her mouth. 'Of course Miss Sees-the-Future didn't mention that the city'd be under an evacuation order and I'd have to run half the distance. She's just lucky I decided to come this early.'

Irritably chomping down on the second half of the bar as she ran past a traffic jam of cars trying to exit the place, she frowned. 'There's definitely something goin' on here.' Entering the city proper, she slowed down and looked around. '...Now where are the eastern shelters?' Closing her eyes and focussing on Homura, she called ["Okay, I'm here, now where the hell are you?"]

["You came, good,"] the steady voice came back. ["You're in the correct part of the city or you'd be out of range to communicate with me like this. If you give me the intersection nearest you I can give you directions"]

The redhead swallowed the last bite of her chocolate bar. "Great, my own personal GPS," she muttered, before heading for the intersection. With Homura's directions, it only took her about five minutes to get to the meeting place, the roof of a large, glass-fronted building. "This is supposed to be a storm shelter, right?" she asked, landing next to the two other magical girls who stood there.

"It is," Homura responded.

"But the windows-"

"Half the city's made of glass," Ranma shrugged. "My guess, someone decided to follow a theme and didn't care when it made no sense."

"Sounds about right," Kyoko agreed, pulling another of the chocolate bars she'd swiped out of her pocket. "So, where's blue?"

Homura didn't respond to this question, though Ranma flinched. "She's… not coming," she said shortly.

Kyoko blinked. "Huh? She doesn't seem like the type to cut and run."

"She… became a witch, all right?" the other redhead said through clenched teeth.

Kyoko shook her head. "Well, I said that would happen if…" She stopped as Ranma transformed, moving quickly enough to almost become a blur, her shaking hand appearing with a Tonfa aimed at her throat. She found herself instinctively activating her own transformation, gripping her spear in one hand.

"I don't need ta hear it from you, got it?" the pigtailed redhead growled.

"If you two are going to fight, do it later," Homura cut in, not even looking at them. "We need to deal with Walpurgisnacht right now."

"Right," Ranma said, though Kyoko noticed that she dismissed her weapon very reluctantly. "So where's this thing gunna hit?"

"It arrives from the bay and proceeds in this direction," the black haired girl responded. "We have ten minutes to get into position."

Kyoko looked at the other girl dubiously. "That's an awfully precise pattern you found."

"She's actually a time traveler," Ranma said, off-hand as the group leapt from the roof.

Homura shot an irritated look over her shoulder, and then sighed. ["I suppose it doesn't matter if the Incubators find out now,"] she acknowledged, but didn't sound happy about it.

"Great," the spear-wielding redhead thought aloud. "So I'm charging at a powerful witch with a kung-fu movie freak and a crazy person who thinks she's from the future. This is gunna go REAL well. If this thing isn't here, I swear to God…" Her train of thought was interrupted as an ear-splitting trumpeting broke the silence of the city.

"The ol' man's talked about seeing pink elephants before," Ranma commented as the three of them landed on a roof at the harbour front, "but this is just plain stupid."

"I gotta agree," Kyoko nodded as she stared at the large circus train that was walking up out of the water led by pink and green elephants. "Is that the witch?"

"No," Homura stated, shaking her head. "I'm going to engage it first. You two handle the familiars. I'm going to use my full power, so don't let it distract you."

"Ain't you cocky?" Kyoko asked. Homura didn't answer, leaping down to the ground as a giant, somewhat obscured shape loomed out of the fog on the other side of the bay. A second later, several dozen single shot missile launchers materialized around her, aimed at the giant shadow, missiles already flying through the air.

"...That happened," Ranma said, her eyes wide as explosions rippled across the approaching witch.

"I'm not gettin' in the way of that many explosives; let's get the familiars," Kyoko decided, leaping off of the building towards the inexplicable circus train. The familiars within it turned out to be almost no threat, so as she and Ranma fought, the spear wielding redhead took a glance in Homura's direction, only to see the other girl push a button on a small device she was holding. Several small explosions went off at the base of three towering scaffolds on the beach, bringing them down on the witch, which she could now see was some sort of inverted cone with two large gears at its top.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," she complained, but blinked as the monstrous witch simply rolled away from the weight that had been crushing her and began to cackle shrilly. She was jolted out of her observations when Ranma landed next to her.

["So, ya got any more missiles to throw at that thing? We're done with these,"] the pigtailed redhead asked.

["Unfortunately, other than my usual arsenal, that was the last of it,"] Homura replied in her usual tone, which Kyoko admitted was pretty impressive given what their opponent had just survived without flinching.

["Right, then I guess it's our turn,"] she said, spinning her spear in her hands. ["Let's see how much punishment this thing can take!"]

Ranma nodded, the two leaping towards Homura's position as Walpurgisnacht floated nearer, her cackling beginning to cause a headache.

"I'd give a week's worth of pocky if she'd shut up," Kyoko growled.

"Yeah, didn't think it was possible, but I think she's worse than Kodachi," Ranma yelled back.

Kyoko decided that she didn't want to know who this 'Kodachi' was. "So, you got any plan for how we're gunna hit this thing?" she asked, the two passing Homura, who was holding down the trigger on an assault rifle, before discarding it for a second one.

Ranma nodded, taking a backpack from one shoulder. "You'll know where to aim," she said, unfastening the top and messing with something inside. Throwing it as hard as she could, it smacked into the side of the witch and detonated in a large explosion.

"You were carrying that on your back?" Kyoko demanded, looking at the other redhead dubiously.

"You gunna hit it or not?" Ranma yelled back.

"They're both crazy," the taller girl grumbled, focussing magic into her spear so that it lengthened, the point smashing into the place that had just been subject to Ranma's explosion. This got a reaction, but not the one they were hoping for as a beam of black energy sped along the path the spear had taken, hitting Kyoko in the stomach and sending her flying.

When she could see properly again, there were six shadowy female figures floating in the air in front of her, two peeling off to fight Ranma, while two came for her and two more headed for Homura. Grinning, she readied her spear, catching a blade that the first one attacked with and parrying it easily.

She was surprised as it summoned a second blade, but managed to spin out of the way, landing a strike to its side which didn't seem to affect it much. "A lot tougher than the first bunch, aren't ya?" she asked, her grin turning savage. She rolled out of the way as the familiar took another swing at her, causing it to hit the ally that had been creeping up behind her, but much to her annoyance the sword passed right through, doing no damage. "Aw, now that's just unfair," she complained irritably.

Lengthening her spear and separating it into several segments to better deal with both opponents at once, she continued to fight, eventually scoring a hit on the one that preferred to keep to the background which caused it to dissipate. She was leaping into the air, preparing to bring her spear down directly on the other one, when something impacted her from the side. She brought one elbow backwards, only to hear a human grunt of pain, though the pressure didn't decrease.

"Red?" she asked, realizing who had grabbed her. "What the he-" she was cut off by a massive crashing sound, the light of the overcast morning blotted out as several tons of concrete and steel raced past her vision. The two were left in darkness for a moment, then she heard the sound of groaning, grinding metal, small shafts of light stabbing in on them before something gave with a loud shriek and she had to close her eyes. Opening them again, she looked around, discovering that they were standing in mid-air, a skyscraper with an irregular circular hole in the side falling to the ground a dozen stories below.

"What the hell was… put me down!" she demanded, struggling in the smaller redhead's arms. Ranma obliged, though standing on an invisible curved floor was almost as disorienting as the high-speed ride through a building had been. "Seriously, what the hell was that?"

"Apparently it's throwing buildings at us now," the other redhead said, obviously disturbed.

"Mami seriously underestimated how dangerous these things were," Kyoko said, trying to suppress the slight shaking in her voice.

"Well Homura… shit, Homura!" Ranma yelled, and Kyoko abruptly found herself free-falling, the shorter redhead somehow managing to fall faster, hitting a roof running. Landing and chasing after her, Kyoko couldn't see the dark haired girl anywhere, but the building that had been thrown into a second gave her a pretty good idea where to look.

She was about to start cursing when Homura suddenly appeared standing on top of the vertically protruding building, her magical girl uniform ragged. ["It's heading for the shelter,"] she said, but even her mental voice sounded weak and unsteady. ["We have to stop it!]

["We've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at it!"] Kyoko shot back. [How're we supposed to stop it?"]

["I'm guessing if you knew any weak spots you woulda hit 'em by now,"] Ranma interjected. ["Other than that, I guess we go for the Hibiki method. Anything'll fall down if you punch it enough."]

["Your plan's just to hit it harder?!"] Kyoko squawked. ["With what?"]

["I… dunno,"] Ranma admitted. ["And Homura's right, it's gettin' real close to the shelter…"]

["Your shield,"] Homura began. ["Can it protect it?"]

["I've, uh, never tried to make it that big before,"] the pigtailed redhead said, uncertainly.

["If you can keep the shelter safe, and I engage the remaining familiars, then Kyoko Sakura can attack Walpurgisnacht without distraction."]

["Me? Why me?"] Kyoko demanded.

["Because I've run out of explosives,"] Homura responded. ["Compared to my guns, you have the strongest physical attacks here."]

["I might not like it, but she's right,"] Ranma agreed.

["Fine, then I guess it's my job to save your asses,"] Kyoko said, twirling her spear in one hand. [Let's do this!"]

HR.

"Does anybody hear that?" Madoka looked up as an older woman who was sitting alone in the corner of the giant shelter room stood, cupping one ear.

"Hear what?" a nearby man asked.

"It sounds almost like… gunfire," the woman said.

"It's probably just a bunch of tree branches," the man dismissed, but the woman walked over to the large window at the side of the room, peering out into the rain.

"I… think I see people moving out there."

"With how bad the storm's gotten?" the man asked, the quiet murmuring that had suffused the room getting slightly louder.

'Could that be...' Madoka thought, standing. She recalled the conversation she'd had with Homura a few days before, when she'd asked to see the fight with the giant witch. The black haired girl had seemed angry when she'd refused, and Ranma had agreed. Of course, the redhead seemed to have changed a lot since Sayaka's death, mostly keeping to herself and acting far more quiet… a lot like Homura, actually. If they were fighting right outside the shelter, were they winning or…

"Madoka? Where are you going?" her father asked, looking up from where he was playing with her younger brother.

"I just want to see what's going on over there," she responded. "I'll be back in a minute."

"All right, just be careful," the older man replied. She nodded absently, walking over to where a large crowd of people had gathered, squinting into the rain. Joining them, she couldn't see much, but knowing what she was looking for helped. There was a small smudge of red that was standing steadily in front of the building, two darker shadows beyond it. Slowly, the image of the red blur became more visible, until she realized that the rain was no longer hitting the window, stopping on a shield several feet in front of it.

"Who's that?" one person whispered.

"What's she doing?" another continued.

Madoka wondered that herself, until suddenly she could see black shadowy figures battering at the barrier the redhead was putting up. "I thought you'd want to see it," Kyubey said, hopping up on the edge of the window. "They're fighting as hard as they can, but they aren't going to win." As he said this, Homura landed next to the barrier, a spray of gunfire dispersing the creatures attacking it. Beyond that, Madoka could see a much larger creature and a third magical girl, probably Kyoko, attacking it.

"They look like they're doing okay," Madoka countered in as quiet a tone as she could manage.

"For now, yes," Kyubey agreed. "However, none of them have infinite energy." As he spoke, something loomed out of the rain. A massive hurtling slab of concrete smashed into Ranma's shield before disintegrating. "How many more of those do you think she can take?" the small animal asked, ignoring the screams and shocked gasps that echoed around the room.

Madoka watched the three magical girls fight, Kyubey sitting quietly next to her, and mulled over what it had said. "I could…" she started, but was interrupted as the witch Kyoko was fighting spat out a stream of flames. The redhead managed to get out of the way at the last moment, but the attack was surprisingly long-ranged, impacting the shield and spreading out into a sheet of fire. Most of the crowd at the windows backed off at this, but Madoka couldn't take her eyes off of the events as Ranma stumbled, falling to one knee, one hand reaching up to her throat. A second later, the shield that was protecting them flickered and died.

Acting on instinct, she dove under the window line, the volume of the shattering glass almost bursting her eardrums, the follow-up of shrieking wind, screams of pain, and a now un-muffled assault rifle not making it any better. She was trying to figure out what was going on through the ringing in her ears when she felt someone grasping her arm. Looking over, she saw her father crouched next to her, her brother in his arms.

"Madoka!" he called, panicked. "Are you all right?"

"I… I'm fine," she stammered, patting herself down.

"We have to get out of here!" he shouted over the noise. "Let's look for your mother and head for the basement!"

She nodded, letting him pull her to her feet and looking around. As she did, however, her eyes caught on a body that was laying in the middle of the floor, a badly burnt redhead, one blue eye peering lifelessly at her, the other covered by a tightly closed lid. "Ranma!" she yelled, running over, hearing the sound of glass crunching under her shoes.

Skidding to a stop at the redhead's side, she picked up the closest hand to check for a pulse and stopped dead. "Her… soul gem?" she asked in a small voice, examining the small silver ring, the setting where the bright blue gem had formerly sat now containing nothing but crystal shards. "No, not again…" she sobbed. "Mami, Sayaka… now you?"

"Madoka?" her father asked, approaching and putting a hand on her shoulder. "We have to get out of here."

"No…" she said, slowly standing, staring out the window as Homura continued to fire at an advancing horde of familiars. Kyoko lept at the witch again, but this time when it unleashed its jet of flame, she was incapable of dodging, flying backwards, her body burning. "Please… stop… I want it to stop…"

"It's not going to stop, we need to go!" her father insisted, beginning to drag her.

"You can make it stop." She didn't resist her father, the older man's mass and strength advantage making it pointless, but she did glance to the side as she walked to see Kyubey, a different one than the one who had been speaking to her before, walk up to her. "You can change all of this, if you want. All you have to do is wish for it."

"I can make it stop," she repeated in a small, broken voice. Her father turned, looking at her strangely. "I can make this all better…"

"Madoka, I…" the older man said, trying to crouch to meet her eye level, obviously worried.

She just pushed him away. "Kyubey, I wish that everyone was alive and safe!"

"I will grant your wish," the little animal said, its hand-like ears reaching for her chest.

HR.

Ranma blinked, looking around in confusion. "What just happened?" she asked herself, taking note of her surroundings. She was standing in the center of a massive room, the floor covered in broken glass and several dozen people surrounding her were looking just as confused.

"Yeah, how'd I get here, anyways? I've heard of sleep-walking, but…" Her head whipped around, tracking the voice to a very confused blue haired girl who was standing next to her.

"S… Sayaka?" she asked, gaping.

"Yeah, that's me," the other girl replied. "Why… are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

"You were…" Ranma blinked again. "How?" She was interrupted as she heard shrill cackling from outside. "Damn it, it's still there?!" Turning, she ran out of the building and into the rain, only to see Kyoko, looking as confused as she felt, standing there, staring up at a glowing pink figure who stood on the roof, drawing back a bow. "That's… Madoka," the shorter redhead began. "She contracted?"

"Who?" Kyoko demanded. "That kid I shared my popcorn with?"

Ranma was about to respond, when Madoka let loose the arrow she'd been drawing back. It streaked through the sky, a bright pink beam of energy, impacting the witch that was still hovering near the building and cutting right through it.

"Woah… the squirrel wasn't kidding when he said she'd be powerful," Ranma muttered as the witch fell out of the sky, disintegrating as it fell. "Did… she just kill it in one shot?"

"Well… we softened it up first," Kyoko pointed out plaintively.

"So I see you managed to take on a Walpurgisnacht without me," Mami said with a small smile, stepping up next to the other two. "I'm sorry I missed it."

"Mami?" Kyoko gasped. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"I… don't know," the blonde answered, looking around. "The last thing I remember I was fighting a witch… and Madoka was there, and there was this boy..." She trailed off, confused.

"We've failed." The three turned to see Homura staring up at the glowing pink figure, tears falling from her eyes. "I… failed again."

"Failed?" Kyoko snorted. "We're all alive, the witch is dead, what's there to complain about?"

"Yeah," Ranma nodded. "You mentioned something about… something bad happening if Madoka contracts, right?"

Homura raised the arm with her shield on it, her expression still distraught. "I would tell you," she said quietly, "but none of you would remember." The shield opened to reveal a mass of gears which spun down to a stop before it turned with a click and everything ceased to exist.

"Miss Asuka, are you paying attention?" Rei blinked, reaching up to rub at the side of her head, trying to get the throbbing pain to go away.

"I'm sorry Ms. Saotome," she said, quietly. "I've just got this really bad headache…"

"Well you'll have to bare with it until the end of class," the teacher said. "It's only another fifteen minutes, so I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Yes Ma'am," Rei responded, the older woman turning to another student to ask her question. The redhead continued to rub at her temple as she glanced around, though. It'd been more than a headache. She'd seen… things. Impossible things, like a giant monster attacking the city, and a girl with far more weapons than a military platoon could carry, even in a bad action movie. As she looked over to the window, her eyes caught on a flash of blonde, distinctive hair.

He was looking up at her, and past her to an indescribable… thing that was hovering in the middle of a giant, circular room. "Quickly, get out of here!" she commanded, but he ignored her, struggling to his feet.

"This thing ain't gunna beat me no matter how much it screws with my head!" he yelled, raising his hands, a blast of green light flying from them and at the monster. A second later, he was flying through the air, landing next to a somewhat familiar looking girl, and… "Miss Tomoe!" She bolted out of her seat, looking around the room wildly, only to see the person in question looking at her, confused.

"Yes? Is there something wrong?" the blonde asked, ignoring the whispers and snickers from their classmates.

"N...no," Rei said, her headache getting worse. "Ms. Saotome, I… I think I should really go to the nurse."

"All right," Ms. Saotome said, looking at her suspiciously. "Tokino, take her down there. And you'd better not be faking to get out of the test this afternoon, Asuka."

Rei looked down at her hands as the boy who had been called stood up. Blinking, she raised her left hand and examined the silver ring that rested there, and that she didn't remember putting on that morning, or even owning, for that matter. The five dark runes and the bright blue gem were distinctive enough that she definitely wouldn't forget it, assuming she had much jewelry in the first place. And where did that blue splotch on her fingernail come from?

"Miss Asuka, you coming?" the boy asked, standing at the classroom door.

"Oh, yes… sorry," she replied, rapidly moving to join him.

END.

Kyoko: Word Monkeys! You two are complete idiots! Not only did you kill me off in chapter 9, despite the fact that I explicitly told you NOT TO, you then made the fic jump the shark so high I think I can see my house from here! Holy Jesus that my dad built a church over, a TIME LOOP?! Memory loss?! This is a Ranma crossover, not a some random bitch with amnesia story! Do you want us to never see a reader again, is that it?

Madoka: I'm sure they know what they're..

Kyoko: Do you WANT me to threaten to make you eat broken glass again? Shut up! They couldn't even MAKE UP A NAME RIGHT, remember? We're doomed. Completely, totally doomed. Nice knowin' ya folks, 'cuz it's aaall over...

Homura: Amazed. And I thought I was pessimistic.

Sayaka: Aw, c'mon, Groundhog Day was a great movie!

Kyoko: And everything that's tried to do it since has sucked.

Mami: Window of Opportunity?

Kyoko: Bad sci-fi doesn't count!

Random Male Voice: Hey!

Weebee: Get outta here, Jack…

Kyoko: One of 'em's shown his face! Get 'em, girls!

Weebee: Yipe, yipe, yipe, yipe!

Jonakhensu: So, now that they've all chased after Weebee, I'd just like to say one thing. I'm sure you noticed the disdain shown for the evacuation shelter. All I can say to that is GLASS?! Why is an emergency shelter made almost entirely out of glass? There's motif and then there's stupidity.

Mami: You do realize I didn't chase after him, right?

Jonakhensu: Don't care, they're not after me.


	10. Chapter 10: Kill a Kitten

Chapter 10: Kill a Kitten.

"You didn't have to come all the way out here," Rei said quietly as she and her mother walked through the corridors away from the nurse's office. "The headache is gone now, I can make it back home by myself, or even go back to class…"

The older woman looked back at her with a strange look as she pushed a door open. "The nurse said you talked about seeing things."

"Well, um, yes, but I'm not seeing anything now," Rei replied.

"Oh, the hallucinations stopped so you're fine now," the older woman quipped. "That's not how diagnostic medicine works, dear."

"They… didn't feel like hallucinations," Rei said. "It was like I was remembering something, but.."

Her mother immediately turned, her expression curious. "You remembered something about before we found you?"

Rei shook her head. "The things I saw were… impossible. I saw Miss Tomoe from my class die, and… a giant monster attack."

"That sounds more like an over-active imagination than a memory," the older woman opined as they exited into the school's parking lot. "I am worried about those headaches, though. With the kind of bumps I've seen you take without flinching…"

Rei didn't respond, thinking as the two walked across the lot and got into her mother's car. Making a decision, she held up her left hand. "Have you seen this ring before?"

Her mother squinted at the offered finger. "Hmm… no, I don't think so, why?"

"Because… I don't remember buying it, or even putting it on this morning," Rei admitted. "It was just like it… appeared after the headaches started."

The older woman looked at her for a long moment, worry evident in her eyes. "I think we'd better get you to the doctor tomorrow."

HR.

"Tiro Finale!" Mami Tomoe smiled to herself as the familiar before her vanished in a red explosion, its labyrinth wavering out of existence. "Hmm, that's another one."

"That was up to your usual standards," a voice spoke, and she turned to see Kyubey sitting on a bench at the side of the small parking lot she stood in, looking back at her passively.

"Thank you," she bowed, though the creature didn't respond. "I was hoping to see you tonight."

"Oh?" Kyubey didn't raise an eyebrow, as it had none, but she was sure that it would if it could.

The blonde approached the bench where he sat. "Did you contract any new magical girls in the city?"

Kyubey tilted his head. "No. None recently and in this city. Why do you ask?"

Mami frowned, sitting down on the bench and folding her hands in her lap. "In class today, a girl jumped up and called me by name. She sounded… terrified, and when I looked at her I caught a glimpse of what looked like a ring." She held her own up for emphasis.

"That is interesting," Kyubey stated. "Something did happen involving a new magical girl today, but I didn't recognize her. She attacked me, quite brutally as well."

"Oh my, are you alright?" the blonde girl asked, picking the little creature up and looking it over for injuries.

Kyubey gently shook himself free. "The damage was inconsequential. Still, the girl didn't look like any of the members of your class I've seen."

"She's been in my class for the last year," Mami explained. "Her name is… Rei, I think. Rather short, with bright red hair."

"The one I saw had long dark hair, so I doubt they were the same person," Kyubey noted. "Very peculiar."

"I could have been seeing things," Mami admitted with a frown. "She sounded so scared, though…"

HR.

'Come on Rei, it won't be so bad,' the redhead thought to herself, feeling dozens of gazes on her back that she knew weren't there. 'I mean, it's not as bad as last time, right?' She shuddered both at the thought of the incident a year ago that had gotten her permission to change in the girls' washrooms instead of the locker room and the fact that her… condition… had suddenly changed two days ago, at about the time her headaches had started again, and no one knew the cause for either. At least now she didn't have to live in fear of the sinks in science class trying to embarrass her.

No, now she just had to worry about impossible flashbacks and screaming names in the middle of English class. She sighed as she caught sight of the door to home room, cautiously peeking in to see only a few students at their desks. Walking in as casually as possible, she headed for her desk near the back of the room. "Um, excuse me, Miss Asuka?"

She yelped, her legs convulsing beneath her, sending her into a spin towards the source of the voice. When she realized what she was doing, her eyes widened as her feet seemed to get tangled in mid-air. She landed on the side of one shoe and toe of the other, falling backwards and smacking her head off of the side of her desk. "...Ow…" she muttered, staring at the desk's legs.

A second later, a set of human legs appeared next to them. "Sorry for startling you," the girl said, crouching in front of her.

"N… no problem, Miss Tomoe," Rei replied, pulling herself into a sitting position. "I was just thinking about things." She reached back with one hand, rubbing at the side of her head. She was about to move it to tug her pigtail when Mami's hand closed around it.

"This is…" the blonde said, pulling the hand forward.

"That is…" Rei said, her nervousness increasing as she tracked the other girl's gaze to the ring on her left middle finger. She'd thought about taking it off, but for some reason felt very nervous whenever she tried and had long since learned to listen to her instincts on such things… such as cats.

"I'm sorry to ask so suddenly, but I need to speak to you at lunch," the taller girl said, standing.

"All... right?" Rei asked, blinking as the other walked away. "What just happened?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She turned as she heard the male voice from nearby, spotting Shiro, the boy who sat behind her, giving her a contemplative look. "She just asked you out!"

"...Huh?" Rei blinked, hard.

"It's so unfair," Shiro complained. "My dreams of romance with Mami crushed in an instant…"

"That… that can't be it!" the redhead said, flushing and scrambling into her seat.

"Now, I'm going to be living vicariously through you, so be sure to not screw up, okay?" the boy continued. "And feel free to have as many PDAs as possible!"

"Shiro, you…" Rei grabbed a book from her bag and hid her face in it. "That isn't funny…"

"From back here it's hysterical," he responded. "Besides, a guy needs something to fantasize about, right?"

Rei's hand flexed on the book, but she stopped herself. If she tried to throw it at him, she'd probably miss and hit someone else. Besides, if she gripped it any harder she might break it, and getting a third textbook would be difficult. He'd probably only started up because she'd been acting so jittery; if she calmed down and went back to normal, he'd probably return to just begging her for test answers, as usual. Glancing around over the top of her book, she glimpsed Mami reading in her seat across the room, and the other students doing their own thing.

She sighed in relief as the first period teacher entered the room. Now all she had to worry about was whatever Mami wanted at lunch. She hoped that Shiro had been wrong and that it wasn't about a date.

HR.

"I'm a what?" Rei asked flatly as she and Mami stood behind the athletic supply shed, the blonde wearing a yellow, white and black outfit that looked disconcertingly similar to the one she'd seen in her vision two days before.

"You're definitely a magical girl," another voice by the other girl's feet answered, and Rei resisted the urge to look down. For starters, the fact that it spoke without moving its lips was creepy enough, but what it looked like was worse. "I'm curious, though. I don't remember contracting with you, and that's the only way a magical girl can be created."

"Contracting?" Rei asked.

Mami nodded. "Kyubey contracts and grants wishes to girls. When he does, we become magical girls. You didn't know?"

"But… I didn't wish for anything," Rei shook her head. "If… that thing… came to me, I would've remembered. How do you know I'm one of these magical girls?"

"Well, your soul gem ring to start with," Mami explained, reverting to her school uniform in a flash of light and holding up her left hand. "The symbol on your fingernail, as well. It would be easy to prove, though. All you need to do is focus on your ring and think about transforming."

Rei wanted to respond that the other girl was insane, but then she was standing behind a shed with a psychic ca… thing, and she had seen the transformation. Besides, up until two days ago she'd turned into a boy. Holding up her left hand, she focussed on it and it felt almost like a switch had been flipped in her mind. Her vision was blotted out by a quick flash of light, and she suddenly felt different. Looking down she saw that she was wearing different clothing, an outfit that looked vaguely Chinese inspired.

"Hmm," she said, tugging on the flap of fabric that hung at her waist, and then examining the hardened forearm sleeves. "Not nearly as frilly as yours." She wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed at that.

"It looks nice," Mami reassured.

"So I'm really a… magical girl?" Rei looked down at her hands again, the mark on her fingernail still there but the ring gone. "But I have no idea what I wished for."

"Strangely neither do I," the animal at Mami's feet offered. "If I were to guess, I would think your wish somehow required neither of us to remember it."

"What kind of wish would do that?" Mami asked, confused.

"Perhaps a very strongly worded wish to erase a bad memory, or…" the thing trailed off as Rei's face paled.

"But… that doesn't make sense," the redhead said, rapidly. "I… I lost my memories over two years ago, I… wouldn't I have wished to get them back, instead?"

"What I said was merely speculation," the animal said.

"Well, you're a magical girl now, Miss Asuka," Mami contributed. "Maybe if we figure out what your powers are, it will give us an idea of your wish? I'd be happy to help you if you'd like."

Rei nodded. "That would be nice."

HR.

"Hmm…" Homura Akemi said, sitting in an alley and studying the two automatic shotguns that lay before her, several neat rows of ammunition drums in front of them. Snapping one of the cartridges open, she examined the rubber projectiles inside before snapping it closed again and methodically stowing the weapons inside of her shield.

Standing and walking casually out of the alley, she looked down at her soul gem ring. This run she'd used relatively little magic, and had to admit that beating Kyubey with a golf club had been… perhaps more satisfying than was mentally healthy. She supposed that letting Mami take the witch that was going to appear tonight would be for the best. Walking for several minutes while paying little attention, she perked up slightly as she approached the bus station. The other magical girl would arrive on the next bus.

Sure enough, five minutes later she caught sight of a flash of blonde hair, but something else caught her eye as well, a mop of bright red in the crowd next to it. "That's not…" she said, confused, turning to follow as the other two broke out of the crowd. 'What's she doing here?'

It wasn't exactly hard to follow the two girls, especially since Mami was depending on her ring to alert them of witches, but Homura was cautious of getting too close, as the blonde was holding Kyubey in her arms.

'This isn't right,' Homura thought to herself, the phrase seeming to run on loop in her head. The redhead who was walking with Mami was obviously Ranma, and the two were definitely hunting, but Ranma Saotome, or rather 'Rei Asuka' had first contracted only in the last timeline out of a total of nine, and had done so after an exposure to a witch that was at least six days from now.

When the two of them came to a stop in front of the boarded up warehouse where the witch was manifesting, Homura darted behind the corner of another building, her eyes widening as both transformed. They entered the building, Homura following after about thirty seconds. Approaching the entrance to the labyrinth, she took a deep breath. She really didn't like this one.

When she entered she was immediately blasted by a gust of warm, damp air, her ears assaulted with grinding, clanking sounds and shrill whistles. Squinting against the steam, she proceeded down corridors of interlocking gears and shafts, the steady reports of Mami's muskets clearing the familiars before she had to worry about them. She contemplated just stopping time and running through, but given the low visibility, she might run right past the two she'd been following.

It took her about four minutes to get through the maze of grinding metal, entering the central chamber where the witch, an interlocking and constantly moving set of gears, conveyors and claws, was battering at Ranma's shield.

"Come on, let's see it!" Mami's voice called from inside of the transparent barrier.

"Okay, here I go," the redhead replied, though it sounded uncharacteristically nervous. The shield vanished and she came charging out of the fog, her tonfa raised over her head… held by the long end. A claw on an articulated frame lashed out at her and she brought the weapon down, it immediately flying out of her hand on impact. She stumbled to the side, just barely making it out of the way of the lashing claw.

"Rei, move!" Mami yelled from where she'd been charging her attack in the background, a barrage of magical musket balls slamming into the witch. The other combatant desperately rolled out of the way, scrambling to her feet on the shifting conveyors that made up the floor just as the taller girl called out again, "Tiro Finale!" Suddenly, the shorter girl threw her hands up over her face, falling again.

The labyrinth began to vanish, revealing the run-down remains of a factory. "Rei? Are you all right?" Mami asked, walking over to Ranma who was still crumpled on the ground and offering her a hand up.

The redhead looked at her strangely for a moment and then accepted the assistance. "I'm fine, I was just… seeing things again, I think."

The blonde tilted her head. "Seeing what?"

"Oh, it… was nothing," the redhead responded, shaking her head.

"Well," Mami said, deciding to drop the subject. "Your shield is proving to be very resilient."

"You don't have to be nice," Ranma responded. "I completely screwed up."

"I don't understand," Mami said reluctantly. "Before now, every magical girl I've ever seen has had at least some instinctual grasp on how to use their weapon. The weapon's supposed to match them."

Ranma shook her head. "It FEELS like I do when I first summon it," she explained. "But it's like… whenever I want to attack, my mind just goes… blank."

"That is unusual for you." Both girls looked around as Homura stepped out of the shadows she'd been hiding in. "You should be a much better physical fighter than that, Ranma Saotome."

"...Ranma Saotome?" The redhead tilted her head. "Who would be named after noodles? My name's Rei."

"That would be ramen," Mami said, eyeing the newcomer suspiciously. "You did get the name wrong, though. I don't think either of us know you, miss."

"No, you don't," Homura nodded. "Still, I want to know, you've never heard the name Ranma Saotome before?"

Both of the other girls shook their heads, and 'Rei' spoke again. "The first part's the name of an epic hero in Hindu mythology, right?"

"That's Rama…" Homura rubbed her forehead.

"You still haven't told us who you are," Mami demanded as the dark haired girl turned to leave. "You aren't the one who attacked Kyubey a couple of days ago, are you?"

Homura opened her mouth, but was cut off. "Yes, that was the one," Kyubey said, stepping out from behind some of the derelict machinery.

Mami nodded, summoning a musket from her ribbons and levelling it at the dark haired girl. "Do you want to explain that?"

Homura reached behind her shield, producing a handgun and aiming it at Mami. "I can't explain that right now. However, what I did was necessary."

"I'd rather not have to fight you," Mami admitted. "But, if you show up again, you had better have an explanation."

Homura didn't respond, just sliding the gun back into her shield and leaving.

HR.

"What was that all about?" Rei asked, looking after the vanishing figure.

"I'm not sure," Mami replied, puzzled. "I would push it harder, except that Kyubey didn't seem that hurt from her previous attack. Hopefully she'll take the hint and leave without causing any more trouble, or at least tell us why she did it and what she thinks she knows about you."

"Yeah…" Rei said, frowning. The two stood in silence for a few moments, before the redhead shook her head. "If we're done for the night, I should probably get back before Mom starts to worry about me."

"Oh, yes," Mami nodded, "it would be a shame to worry her. You might want to start thinking of excuses to be gone at night, though. This hunt was rather short."

Rei scratched her head. "I'm not sure what I could say. Sometimes she's working at night, but she has a lot of time off, too. How do you do it?"

"I live by myself," Mami answered, looking slightly uncomfortable and starting to head for the warehouse's entrance.

"Oh, are your parents in another country or something?" Rei asked curiously as she followed.

"My parents died in a car crash about three years ago," the blonde said quietly.

Rei's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm… I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Mami said as the two exited onto the street. "You didn't know." Rei didn't speak as the two headed back towards the bus station, though as they approached Mami spoke again. "It really isn't a problem," she repeated. "In fact, I can suggest one way you can hunt longer. If you'd like, you can have tea with me and we can have a 'sleep over.'"

"That would work," Rei said, eager for the subject change. "Mom keeps encouraging me to try to make more friends, I think that would make her happy."

"Then we're set, okay?" Mami replied, giving a thumbs up. Rei nodded as the bus pulled up.

HR.

"Alright now, remember, like this," Mami said, holding up a picture of a man striking a wooden log with a tonfa.

Rei studied it, shifting her grip on her weapon before whipping her arm around and forward as hard as she could. It impacted the barrel in front of her with a loud clang and sent it flying several meters, visibly dented.

"That's good!" Mami nodded. "You are quite physically strong, aren't you?"

Rei scratched the back of her neck. "I was stronger before I contracted, I think... but I haven't tried doing any heavy lifting recently so I'm not sure."

"You were… stronger?" Kyubey asked, from where it sat next to Mami, watching. "That isn't very common for humans."

The redhead laughed nervously. "Yeah, I guess I was a little weird…" She looked down at the ground for a moment, her cheeks flushing slightly.

"No, it's fine," Mami said, moving up next to the other girl. "Though I was thinking, the weapons you use, you're apparently supposed to have two of them rather than one."

"I don't know…" Rei said, "I just tried summoning it like you said and got this."

"Maybe if you try it again?" the taller girl offered. "Don't get rid of the one you have, just call it again."

Rei nodded, closing her eyes and holding out her left hand. A second tonfa materialized in it and she opened them again. "Hey, it worked!"

"Good," Mami said. "It's a good thing to experiment with your magic, just as long as you have enough energy that you won't run out. I've actually got a whole binder full of notes on my powers back at my apartment." She looked the redhead over speculatively. "I wonder if you're ever going to need a final attack?"

Rei laughed nervously. "Um… maybe we should work on making sure I can fight first?"

"Of course that's important," Mami agreed, "But having a proper final attack call is important too."

"Uhh…" Rei just looked blankly at the taller girl for a moment.

"Well," Mami said, "Let's get back to training, alright?" Rei rapidly nodded in agreement.

HR.

"Madoka, help me!" The pink haired girl stopped in the middle of the food court, looking around. "Please help me!"

"Do… you two hear that?" she asked, as Sayaka and Hitomi turned, noticing that she wasn't following them.

"Hear what?" the blue haired girl asked, confused.

Madoka frowned worriedly. "It sounds like someone's calling for help."

"Well I didn't hear it, did you Hitomi?" Sayaka asked, getting a shake of the head from the olive haired girl.

"Madoka, please help!" The pink haired girl turned and ran in the direction she thought the voice was coming from, prospective food forgotten.

"Hey! wait up!" Sayaka yelled, following. Hitomi just blinked in confusion for a moment before chasing after her friends.

The three wound through several back halls of the mall, over a foot-bridge and into a darkened parking garage in the next couple of minutes. "I… really don't think… you could hear anything from… this distance!" Sayaka huffed, but Madoka ignored her, and the stitch beginning to form in her side, pushing the door to the garage's stairwell open and beginning to run down.

Coming to the bottom floor of the garage, she pushed the door open, hearing several sounds of impact. Following the noises, she was stopped in her tracks as she heard several gun shots. "Why are you doing this?" a female voice demanded from up ahead.

There were several more gunshots, and a second female voice. "You aren't going to get through my shield, so you might as well explain."

"This doesn't have anything to do with you," a third voice replied, as Madoka cautiously peeked around a stone column, taking in the sight of three girls, two standing together and one across from them, and all holding weapons. A small white animal was huddling behind the two girl team, which looked to be set to protect it, while the third pointed an assault rifle at them.

"Homura?" she whispered, recognizing the dark haired one.

"I don't know about that," one of the two defending girls said. "You're trying to kill Kyubey, again."

"You shouldn't trust him," Homura said, but though her tone sounded urgent, it was almost as though she were repeating a warning she'd given many times before. "He's trying to trick you."

"So you're after Kyubey because you don't trust him, is that it?" one of the defenders, a blonde holding an antiquated looking gun replied. "How about you let us deal with that?"

Homura sighed. "I would, but he's going to cause damage to more people than just you."

"Hey, what're we listening in on?" Madoka let out a small eep as Sayaka's voice whispered into her ear, looking to the side to see the other girl looking over her shoulder. "Holy crap, are those guns?"

"Be quiet," Madoka hissed back as the other defender, a short redhead, looked in their direction for a moment.

Apparently deciding that she hadn't seen anything important, she returned her eyes to Homura."I can sort of get you not trusting him," she admitted. "He gives me the creeps too, but that's just because he looks like a ca… thing."

"He does?" the blonde asked, and the animal behind them seemed to react as well.

"I'm not good with… cats," the redhead choked out, gulping.

"Well I highly doubt this girl would try to kill him just because of a fear of cats," the blonde shook her head. "Really, why do you distrust Kyubey so much?"

Homura growled under her breath. "You won't believe me, but I'll explain. Just… I don't want to do it here. Can we go somewhere else?"

"I suppose if things degenerated to fighting, doing it here wouldn't be wise," the blonde nodded. "Rei, keep your shield ready."

The redhead nodded as the blonde slowly lowered her gun and it vanished in a flash of orange light. Turning, she reached down to pick up the small creature that had been sitting behind her, but froze as she heard a new noise.

"Madoka! Sayaka! Where in the world are you two!?" Everyone, including the named girls, flinched as an irritated voice echoed through the parking garage, Homura's gun rapidly moving to point out into the darkness.

"Who's there?" the blonde called out.

"Oh, I've finally… found…" Hitomi trailed off as she walked towards the voice, catching enough dim light to see the rifle aimed at her. "Wh… what's going on here?" she demanded.

"Nice work blowing our cover," Sayaka said, stepping out from her hiding place, Madoka nervously following.

"Miss Akemi?" the olive haired girl asked, looking at the black haired one. "You really shouldn't wave toys like that around."

"This isn't a-" Homura started, before being interrupted by a groaning sound from nearby. The red haired girl, Rei, had crumpled to the ground, holding her head.

"Rei?" the blonde asked, crouching next to her.

"Mami, I…" Rei looked up for a moment, but her gaze seemed vacant. "It… hurts…"

"Is… she alright?" Madoka asked, moving forward almost instinctively.

HR.

The world seemed to fade as Rei's head pounded, images flashing past her vision too quickly for her to catch anything but the smallest fragments.

The school cafeteria.

"You two…" Sayaka looked between the redhead and the pink haired girl. "Unless it's mutual lamentations on being short, I don't see it."

The school gates.

"The Blue Thunder is ready to smite evil!" Sayaka proclaimed, as she stood next to Madoka in front of the school.

Her living room.

"You're way too forgiving," Sayaka complained. "If it was my eye, I'd be out for blood."

A darkened street.

"We can't fix this!" Sayaka interrupted. "You can't just… get better from having your soul torn out! You…. were you ever human to begin with?"

A rooftop.

"I was taking care of it," Sayaka disagreed. "I don't need your help."

A lattice of steel suffused with red light.

"Sayaka…" Rei said, unsure how to finish the sentence. Giving up, she launched herself towards the witch.

A... "Why is she looking at me like that?" Her surroundings abruptly snapped back into focus, the ache in her head settling down to the point it only felt like one ice pick.

"Rei? Rei, are you alright?" Mami was kneeling next to her, concern obvious on her face.

"I… don't know," the redhead replied. "I saw… It was like that day in class with you, only worse… a lot worse."

"What did you see?" Sayaka asked, walking up to her. "You said my name and looked pretty scared. That kinda makes a girl nervous, you know?"

"You were… a witch," Rei said, slowly. "You got angry, and depressed, and then…"

"She was a witch?" Mami asked. "That… doesn't really make sense."

There was a loud thud, and all of the girls turned to the source of the sound, eyes widening in horror as they saw Homura standing over the body of Kyubey, the neck bent at an unsurvivable angle.

"You…" Mami leapt to her feet. "What have you done?"

"You can ask him if you'd like," Homura responded cooly, "once he comes back. If she saw what I think she did, asking her might not be a bad idea either."

"Um, you caved his head in," Sayaka said, obviously disturbed. "He's not going to come back from that."

"Actually she's correct," Kyubey spoke, approaching from the direction of the stairs, "but having my body destroyed is still wasteful."

"What… why is that cat thing talking?" the olive haired girl who was standing behind Sayaka asked faintly.

"It's hard to…" Mami started, being cut off as the space around them began to ripple. "A witch?"

"Now?" Homura frowned. "Ranma, protect Madoka and the others, Mami Tomoe and I will handle the witch."

"She's talking about you," Mami said, glancing at Rei before giving Homura a suspicious look. "This isn't over."

"I know," Homura answered.

END.

Kyoko: Okay… I'm confused. I still see no reason not to kill you.

Mami: Well I'm happy, I'm back in the game and as badass as ever, woo!

Kyoko: Well of course you're happy, you got a partner who was basically me with bigger tits and more of a doormat personality.

Mami: I… that's a horrible thing to say!

Homura: Brutal honesty. That doesn't make it untrue.

Mami: You guys suck…

Jonakhensu: She's really not a doormat… it's just complicated…

Kyoko: I'll believe that when I see it.

Weebee: Well, you'll see it soon… hopefully.

Kyoko: Yeah yeah, just shut up and keep digging your graves. You should be hitting China aaany minute now.


	11. Chapter 11: Still Alive

Chapter 11: Still Alive.

Homura nodded as the witch dissolved, the last volley of combined gunfire having done enough damage. As the labyrinth began to dissipate, she looked down at the shield on her left arm, and then over at Mami, who was dismissing her rifles. Right now she could probably vanish. If she did it right, Mami wouldn't even notice, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

What Ranma had said earlier... could she somehow remember the previous timeline? The dark haired girl shook her head. That was wishful thinking. Still, her magic did involve future sight. If she'd seen the right things…

"Miss Akemi?" Mami was looking at her now, her previous suspicion tinged with a small bit of concern.

"I'm fine," Homura shook her head. She'd apparently made her decision. "We should probably get back to the others."

HR.

"All right, so does someone want to explain what's going on?" Sayaka questioned, looking at the people around the small triangular glass table, as if demanding an answer. She sat with Madoka and Hitomi across from the three weapon-wielding girls. "The red haired girl said you'd have some explanations."

"M… my name is Rei," the redhead broke in, taking a forkful of the slice of cake in front of her.

"I'm Mami, and that is Homura Akemi," the blonde continued. "At least part of the explanation is that we're magical girls. We fight witches and protect the city. However, I'm not sure why Miss Akemi decided to attack Kyubey, or how he regenerated."

"You say that like it's not nuts," Sayaka complained.

"Sayaka!" Hitomi snapped. "I'm sorry, but it is a little hard to believe, even after seeing Rei transform and those creatures attacking her shield."

"That wasn't fun," Madoka shivered.

"Well, you'll have time to learn about it," Mami smiled. "Kyubey's let you see him, which means he probably wants to make a contract with one of, or maybe even all three of you."

"He does," Homura said. "He wants to contract Madoka Kaname, and is willing to contract Sayaka Miki."

"You're right," the little animal said, springing up on the table from where he'd sat at Mami's feet. "I would be willing to grant a wish to Madoka and Sayaka, but how do you know that?"

Homura took a deep breath and threw an unreadable look at Rei. "I know because I don't want them to contract. It would be a disaster for everyone involved… aside from the Incubators, of course."

"A disaster?" Mami asked. "What are you talking about?"

Rather than Homura responding, it was Rei. "That's what I saw, isn't it? What happened to Sayaka… is that the disaster?"

"Part of it, yes," Homura confirmed.

"Woah, hold on, what's going to happen to me?" Sayaka asked, raising her hands in a halting motion.

This time, Homura's strange, unreadable look was aimed at Mami. "There are certain aspects of being a magical girl that you aren't prepared to handle," she explained.

"Aren't prepared?" Sayaka snapped. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"To put it in the manner you prefer," Homura started calmly, a small, egg-shaped gem materializing in her hands, purple light shining faintly from it, "this is my body. The one speaking to you now is only an empty husk controlled by my magic. My soul was torn from it and put into this gem when I contracted."

"Wh… what?!" Mami asked, Sayaka too busy looking shocked to respond, along with Madoka, Hitomi, and Rei. "Kyubey, is that true?"

"I wouldn't have phrased it that way," the white-furred animal replied. "But yes, it is factually accurate."

"Wh… why? How could you do something like that?" Sayaka demanded, backing up from the table. "Turning yourself into a… a zombie?!"

"Sayaka, I… don't think they knew, at least not Miss Asuka and Miss Tomoe," Hitomi interjected, though she too looked a little shaken.

"How could you do something like that without telling them?" Madoka asked accusingly.

"When things get desperate enough," Homura began, "you don't care what you give up to get what you want."

"You say that so negatively," Kyubey retorted. "I understand that you don't like me, but would you honestly rather I sent girls into battle against witches in those fragile human bodies of yours? You wouldn't have a chance of victory."

"He… he does have a bit of a point," Mami said, trying to regain her composure and taking a sip of tea, trying to ignore the cup rattling against the saucer. "I've seen a magical girl keep fighting with injuries that should have stopped her…" Her expression seemed to grow distant for a moment before she shook her head.

"Y… you sound almost okay with this!" Sayaka said, appalled.

"I'd be lying if I said I was," Mami replied, "But.. I'm already a magical girl. It's a little too late to get angry about it now, right?" She smiled, but it seemed a little strained.

"But… I don't understand," Rei objected. "That's… a lot to take in, but what I saw-"

"The rest of what you saw was a result of Sayaka learning about our soul gems after contracting," Homura cut the redhead off rapidly.

"So… I'm confused," Madoka said. "How do you know all of this?"

"My powers as a magical girl allow me to know what is most likely going to happen in the future," the black haired girl explained. "That's why I attacked Kyubey, I had to stop him from contracting either of you."

"Um… so what about me?" Hitomi asked, looking somewhat sheepish.

"I… honestly didn't expect you to be here," Homura confessed.

"I… see," the olive haired girl said, her expression an odd mix of acceptance and disappointment.

"It would still probably not be a good idea for you to contract, but Kyubey…" The dark haired girl cut herself off, giving the cat-like creature a suspicious look.

"All right," Mami said. "So you attacked Kyubey because you didn't want him contracting those girls, but… why didn't you just explain it to him?"

"I'm sure you've felt how much potential Madoka has," Homura commented. "The Incubators would stop at nothing to get her to contract."

"I'm powerful?" Madoka asked.

"Oh, yes," Kyubey confirmed. "We've never seen anyone with such potential."

Homura gave Kyubey a very dark look. "You are," she nodded, "but contracting would cost you a lot."

The pink haired girl looked confused. "I'd be able to help people though, right?"

"Madoka, get serious!" Sayaka interrupted. "Did you miss the part about getting your soul ripped out?!"

"That really isn't a very big change," Kyubey objected. "As long as you keep your soul gem close to your body, it would be completely unnoticeable aside from its benefits. For instance, Mami has had no reason to suspect until now, and she's been a magical girl for three years."

"There's more to it than the soul gem!" Homura said heatedly. "You would have to fight witches, you would…" She looked over at Mami and trailed off.

"You would become one." The dark haired girl looked over quickly at the quiet voice to see Rei staring down at her hands. "That's what I saw happen to Sayaka."

"Wh… what?" Mami stammered.

"She didn't take learning about the soul gem very well," the redhead explained, with Homura looking more and more uncomfortable. "She got angrier and sadder, and her soul gem got darker, like it was running out of power. Then she…"

"Stop!" Mami burst out, standing. "That can't be true! How could you have 'seen' something like this? How could either of you know what's happening in the future?"

"Yeah... " Sayaka nodded. "That's… kinda creepy to say, isn't it?"

"I… I don't know," Rei admitted. "I've been seeing things since I became a magical girl. They all seem impossible, but while I'm seeing them they're so real…" Looking up at Mami whose face seemed unusually angry, she shook her head.

"Why would Kyubey create us to fight witches if we just turn into them!" Mami exclaimed, pacing away from the table. Turning rapidly, she looked to the creature in question. "She's wrong, isn't she?"

"Sayaka Miki obviously hasn't become a witch. She isn't even a magical girl," Kyubey responded. "The ability to see the future is one that magical girls can possess, but it's rather suspicious that these two both seem to have it, especially since, as I've said, I don't recall contracting Rei Asuka nor Homura Akemi for that matter."

Mami nodded, her eyes narrowing. "You're right, that is strange. Rei, other than this thing with Sayaka, what else have you seen?"

"Um…" The redhead fidgeted, uncomfortable. "The things I told you involving you and that battle…"

"And?" Mami prompted her to continue.

"...And after that I saw… you shooting at me, when we fought that witch with all of those claws, and earlier today when I was protecting the others."

"I see," Mami nodded, activating her transformation. "Rei, shield the girls again."

"What are…" Homura started as the blonde summoned a musket and aimed it at her.

"I don't appreciate you playing with my apprentice's mind, especially with how much pain you caused her earlier," Mami said, before pulling the trigger.

Homura rolled to the side, invoking her own transformation. "Wait! You don't understand!" she called, but was only greeted by several more summoned muskets which punched holes in the wall she dodged past.

"I understand all I need to!" Mami yelled, this time waving her arms and bringing two dozen muskets into being, but before she could fire her opponent flickered and vanished. "Is she still here, Kyubey?" she asked, the weapons still hovering in front of her.

"No, she's somehow vanished," the little animal reported.

"Good," the blonde sighed in relief, dispelling the weapons and returning to civilian form. Turning, she saw Rei dismiss her shield, the three non-magical girls having sheltered under it.

"What the heck was that about?" Sayaka demanded.

"Magical girls sometimes try to attack each other," Mami explained. "Having one use enchantment magic to trick us is a bit of a new tactic, though."

"So she was just lying to us?" Madoka asked.

"Kyubey?" Mami asked, turning to the expert.

"She wasn't lying about the soul gems," Kyubey confirmed.

"So all of that stuff I was seeing was..." Rei trailed off, horrified.

"Probably," Mami nodded. "Most of what you saw was probably created by her to trick you."

"But why would she want to do that, though?" Madoka asked. "Aren't you all supposed to be fighting the same enemy?"

"The number of witches is limited, and destroying them gives rewards," Mami explained. "Mitakihara City is a good hunting ground."

"What does happen if your soul gem darkens all the way?" Rei spoke tentatively.

"You lose control of your magic," Kyubey explained. "Having that happen in the middle of a battle with a witch would be bad, so you should do your best to keep them cleansed."

"Wow," Sayaka whistled. "Sounds kinda intense."

"It can get that way," Mami nodded.

"So if her goal was to trick you two, why would she be so determined to convince Madoka that becoming one of you was a bad idea?" Hitomi asked.

"Madoka would be a powerful magical girl," Rei offered. "Maybe she doesn't want that competition?"

"I guess-" The olive haired girl was interrupted in her response as her cell phone began to vibrate. Pulling it from her pocket, she read a text message on the screen and her face turned pale. "I'm… an hour late for tea ceremony practice," she squeaked. "I've got to go!"

"Woah, Hitomi, we just found out magic's real and you're freaking out over tea ceremony?" Sayaka asked incredulously.

"My parents are going to kill me!" Hitomi called back, kneeling near the door and preparing her street shoes.

"Maybe now might be a good time for us to stop for today," Madoka said. "You two go to the same school as we do, right? We can meet again tomorrow.

"Yeah, I guess so," Sayaka replied. "Still, going home and then going back to school isn't what you'd think you'd do after learning that magic existed." Grumbling, she moved to join Hitomi, Madoka behind her. As the three opened the door, the blue haired girl could be heard complaining about alien invasions and math tests.

When the door closed behind the three non-magical girls, Mami looked around, a sweat drop forming on the back of her neck. "I… probably shouldn't have summoned guns in here, should I?" She asked, noting several holes in the wall that were letting in sunlight, along with a smashed window and several ruined pictures.

"You probably should have stuck with your ribbons, yeah," Rei agreed.

"Oh well!" the taller girl said, trying to seem cheerful. "I've always wanted to learn some home repair."

"I could help," Rei offered. "I have some experience with fixing holes."

"That sounds like it would be fun," Mami smiled.

Rei nodded back, but then began to poke her index fingers together. "Um, I'm sorry for letting that Homura girl get to me like that."

"Hey, it's alright," Mami said, walking over and laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm the more experienced magical girl; I'm supposed to look out for you."

HR.

"You should really relax a bit, Rei," Suzuka said as she set out the plates on the small table. "You're introducing me to your friend, not your boyfriend."

"Well, it's the first time I've ever had a friend over," the pigtailed redhead explained. "It's just kind of… weird."

The older woman smiled at her, though she had to resist the urge to wince. Her daughter had been acting strangely nervous for the last week, and the idea that it was just because she wasn't used to having friends was… pretty depressing, to tell the truth. "Well, it's only fair that we have her over. You've gone to her place a couple of times, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Rey responded, placing the large bowl of rice she'd been holding in the middle of the table. She almost jumped when she heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Suzuka said. "Get the glasses from the kitchen." Rei moved to do so, and her mother moved across the room to the door. Opening it, she smiled at a blonde girl who was carrying a small box. "Mami Tomoe?" she asked, stepping back.

"Yes Ma'am," the girl said, entering the apartment and carefully removing her shoes while balancing the box in her hand.

"Let me get that," Suzuka said, reaching out and taking it. "What's in here, anyways?"

"I thought I'd bring a cake for dessert," Mami said, bending to pull on the house slippers more easily.

"Oh, that was nice of you," Suzuka said, turning and heading back to the table. Several minutes later, the three were settled around the table, Rei and Mami talking about something that had happened at school that afternoon. In a lull in the conversation, Suzuka asked, "So, Miss Tomoe, how are you enjoying the new school?"

Mami blinked. "New school?"

"Um, Mami's been in my class ever since I first started attending," Rei explained.

"Oh," Suzuka said, confused. "I see." The table lapsed into silence for a moment, before she continued. "I'm sorry if this seems rude, but if you've been in class together all year, how did you suddenly become friends?"

"Mom?" Rei asked, though she was fidgeting nervously.

"Well, the truth is that I didn't really notice Rei much until she got sick last week," Mami said, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I went to talk to her when she came back, to see if she was all right, and it turned out we got along pretty well."

"Yeah, that's what happened," Rei nodded, with an obviously nervous smile.

"I… see," Suzuka repeated. She supposed it made some sense, but there was definitely something more going on. She just wasn't sure how to find out about it, or if it was a big enough thing to push over.

"This food is very good," Mami interrupted her train of thought. "You're a very good cook, Ms. Asuka."

"Rei did most of the cooking tonight." Suzuka shook her head. "She insisted on it actually."

"Oh, well then I should be complimenting you," Mami said to the redhead.

Rei simply looked down at her food, poking at her vegetables self-consciously.

HR.

"I can't believe you ate that much cake," Mami smiled as she and Rei walked down the street.

"I… it was good," the redhead replied, rubbing her stomach.

"Yes," Mami nodded, "but I've only met one other person who could pack it away like that."

"Oh?" Rei asked, curiously.

"I knew her a while ago," the blonde girl's eyes grew distant for a moment. "We were friends, but then…" She shook her head. "It's not important."

"Ah, I see," Rei said, spotting three figures waiting for them at a bus stop at the end of the block.

"About time you two showed up, what took you so long?" Sayaka demanded, hands on her hips.

"Ms. Asuka wanted to talk to me for a while, sorry for the wait," Mami responded. "Still, I'm surprised that you showed up. I thought you said you had no intention of becoming a magical girl."

"I don't," the blue haired girl replied. "That doesn't mean I don't want to see you fight."

"Sayaka, that's…" Madoka trailed off.

"Yeah, okay, maybe that was going a bit far," Sayaka responded. "I also want to make sure Hitomi and Madoka are safe. See? I brought this!" She reached over her shoulder, drawing a covered object from her back and unwrapping it to reveal an aluminum baseball bat.

"Well… at least you came prepared," Mami said, weakly.

"So how do we do this… witch hunting thing?" Hitomi asked. "I hope it doesn't take too long, I have something I need to do before school tomorrow, so I need to head to bed at a reasonable time."

"Jeez, why'd you decide to come if you're going to talk like that?" Sayaka grumbled.

"We'll probably be out later than that," Mami said, ignoring the blue haired girl's outburst, "but you can break off and go home at any time if you'd like."

"That's good," Hitomi nodded.

"You're not taking this seriously at all, are you?" Sayaka grumbled.

"I do have to agree there," Mami stated. "If you become a magical girl, there won't be much time for clubs or other activities."

"Oh, I see…" the olive haired girl said, falling to the back of the group as they started to walk.

HR.

"All right, let's try what we talked about before!" Mami called, her ribbons lashing out to wrap around the familiar that had been charging at her. "Do it now!"

"Right!" Rei called back, her shield springing up as the ribbon ended a long arc, the creature smashing into it like a bug on a windshield and then crumbling away.

"Well, that worked," the blonde said, cheerfully.

"That was… pretty cool," Sayaka admitted as the ribbon fence that had been protecting her and the others faded along with the familiar's labyrinth.

"Hmm, the Nutcracker, maybe?" Mami asked, tilting her head.

"I.. don't think that was much of a 'final attack,'" Rei disagreed. "You did all the work."

Mami shook her head. "I've tried that before, but most walls in a labyrinth will just shatter if you throw a witch into them. It wouldn't have worked without your shield. Ah! How about 'Immovable Object?'"

"Is… is she the same person we started with?" Madoka asked, a sweat drop rolling down the side of her head.

"She seems to be having fun," Hitomi offered.

Mami didn't seem to hear this, starting to head for the entrance of the alleyway they'd been fighting in, the others following.

"I… I wanted to ask you guys something," Sayaka said, after a few minutes of silence.

"Hmm?" Mami asked, looking over her shoulder.

"I wanted to know… You really don't feel any different from before you became magical girls, even with your souls…" the girl cut herself off, shivering violently.

"Hmm," Mami stopped and then looked up into the sky. "I don't think it feels any different," she replied, "though I contracted after a car crash, so I might not have noticed any changes."

"And I think I suddenly became a magical girl during class without even making a contract," Rei added. "I didn't notice anything except a headache, but that might have been… something else, and...," she continued before clamping her mouth shut.

"And?" Hitomi asked.

"It… it isn't important, no, nothing's different," Rei said, scratching the back of her neck.

"So you can just… spontaneously turn into a magical girl?" Sayaka asked, disturbed.

"Not normally," Rei shook her head. "Kyubey has no idea why…" Her eyes widened, and suddenly a shield sprang up around the group.

"Rei, what's wrong?" Mami demanded.

The redhead shook her head. "I… I don't…" She looked around. "It's nothing, I just saw… never mind."

Mami frowned darkly. "Don't worry about it, let's keep going."

HR.

["So, d'ya think you made enough noise?"] Mami turned, spotting an irritable looking red haired girl standing on a rooftop across the street from where she stood.

["It got your attention,"] the blonde replied. ["I need to talk to you, and you don't have a cellphone."]

["Since you called me from down there, I'm guessin' you don't want to fight,"] the redhead said.

Mami winced. ["I've never wanted to fight you, Kyoko."] The other girl didn't respond, pulling back from the edge of the roof she was on. Mami waited for a minute, until she saw her approaching through the crowd.

"You're buying me dinner" were the first words out of Kyoko's mouth when she came into easy hearing range.

Mami sighed resignedly. "Of course, what did you want?"

"Hmm, there's a fairly good Okonomiyaki cart around here," Kyoko said, smiling.

Mami nodded, following the redhead and checking her wallet. This would likely be expensive.

Kyoko lead her about a block away and down another street before apparently spotting her quarry. "Hey, Kuonji!"

A young man with a… giant spatula… on his back looked up from where he was working at a portable grill and waved. "Ah, hey Sugar. You got money this time?"

"Nope, but she does," Kyoko said, pointing a finger over her shoulder happily.

"This time?" Mami asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"So… maybe Ukyo caught me trying to steal some food once… or twice," the redhead said, nervously.

"She got further than most," Ukyo allowed, as though speaking casually to food thieves was something he often did. "Still haven't figured out how she did that trick with the spear."

Mami's raised eyebrow gave way to a shocked expression. "You didn't…"

"Relax, I didn't go that far," Kyoko waved her off. "Now you gunna order me some food or what?"

"Is this how you treat all your friends, Kyoko?" Ukyo asked, a small grin on his face as he started cooking two okonomiyaki.

"Hey, I never said she was my friend," the redhead snapped back, crossing her arms.

Mami winced. "So how much will those be?"

Ukyo shrugged. "Well, you've got to tell me what you want on them first.

Kyoko quickly ordered, followed moments later by Mami, and the two waited quietly while the food was cooking. "You guys enjoy, okay?" Ukyo said, sliding the cooked food off of the grill and into a pair of boxes before handing them over.

"We will, thank you," Mami said, bowing slightly, though Kyoko had already started eating.

When the two had gotten far enough away from the okonomiyaki cart, and Kyoko had made an appreciable dent in her meal, she spoke. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I need your help with something," Mami explained. "A new magical girl has entered Mitakihara."

Kyoko blinked. "I didn't think you would need my help driving someone off."

"It's.. not exactly that," the blonde shook her head. "I think she's using enchantment magic to affect the mind of another magical girl."

"I'm… still not getting where this has to do with me," Kyoko drawled. "And wait, so there's two new magical girls in Mitakihara all of a sudden?"

Mami nodded. "I'm helping one of them. She's not very good at fighting and just became a magical girl recently."

"Ah…" Kyoko scowled. "Filling her head with all that love and justice crap I bet, right?"

Mami found herself clenching her teeth, but slowly forced herself to relax. "Yes, if you want to put it that way," she answered.

Kyoko gave the blonde a flat look. "You do remember I haven't been able to perform enchantment magic for almost a year, right?"

"I was hoping that you would still be able to sense it better than I can and throw it off if she tries to use it against us," Mami explained.

"Okay… you want me to help you figure out if your new sidekick's getting her mind screwed with," Kyoko summed up. "So… what's in it for me even if I can do it? I mean, if you needed help with a big witch I could just ask for the grief seed, but I've really got no reason to come over there and fight some magical girl I don't even know."

Mami frowned. "I don't suppose asking you to do it out of the kindness of your heart would work." She could feel the incredulous look without actually having to see Kyoko's face. Unfortunately, she had no idea what else to offer. "Fine, then I'll make you a cake of any type you want."

"Cake, huh?" The redhead tilted her head in thought. "One a week, for the next month, and you've got a deal."

"Y… you're serious?" the blonde asked, shocked. She'd almost been joking with the offer.

"Don't make me make it two," Kyoko threatened. "Besides, I don't really have much to do right now. The latest bunch of familiars aren't quite ready to mature yet."

Mami resisted the urge to start the old argument again and just nodded. She'd confronted the other magical girl on that before and it had ended… poorly. "I'll have the first cake ready for you tomorrow."

The redhead smiled. "Then I'll be there to pick it up and meet this sidekick of yours."

END.

Welp, once again we alter a character's hair color because someone has informed us that we got it wrong. Fortunately for Weebee's blood pressure, this time Jonakhensu made the mistake as well and the culprit is JSB. Don't know who he is? He preread this chapter. So yeah. Hitomi's hair is now olive. We'll be correcting previous chapters as we get to it, but figured that posting this one was more important. Fortunately she shows up much less often than Kaname.

Hitomi: Yeah, I really don't get much screen time. I mean I know the anime's named after her, but…

Weebee: Um, Hitomi, wrong Kaname.

Hitomi: Oh… okay. My complaint still stands, though.

Kyoko: Hells yeah! Back in the story! And I'm getting cake!

Sayaka: The cake is a lie.

Homura: Angry. And that is an overused meme.

Kyoko: Wait, I'm NOT getting cake?! What'd you just say?

Sayaka: One she's never seen, evidently.

Mami: Well it's hard to play video games when you're living like a hobo.

Kyoko: Excuse me?! I play Dog Drug Reinforcement all the time!

Jonakhensu: By the way, that isn't an abridged joke… That was in the anime.


	12. Chapter 12: Head Games

Chapter 12: Head Games.

["Hold on, we're almost there,"] Rei projected, as she and Madoka ran down a street as quickly as possible, ignoring curious stares from passers by.

["Don't worry too much, it's not even moving,"] Sayaka replied, Kyubey relaying her thoughts to the magical girl from within a labyrinth. ["Just hurry up and get here."]

'...Right,' the redhead thought to herself, a slow sense of dread building in her stomach. Mami had left to go talk to someone in another city soon after school had ended, and only half an hour later a panicked pink haired girl had shown up at her apartment, asking for help with a witch. 'What am I going to do?' she thought as the two came into range to see the hospital. 'I can't exactly shield it to death.' Still, she couldn't rely on Mami all the time, and Sayaka was in danger no matter how calm she sounded.

Sliding to a stop in front of a pillar near the hospital's entrance, Rei studied it intently, reaching out a hand and opening a portal to the labyrinth. "Madoka, stay out here, alright?"

"What? But Sayaka…" the slightly taller girl started.

"I'm sorry, but without Mami here…" Rei looked down. "It'll be a lot easier if I go by myself."

Madoka looked reluctant, but eventually nodded. The redhead stepped into the rift she'd opened, shivering as the darkened labyrinth appeared before her, and then blinking in surprise. "Desserts?" she asked incredulously. She stared at a human-sized chocolate-chip cookie until one of the chips on its surface moved as though blinking at her before continuing on its way.

Shaking her head and starting forward cautiously, she kept an eye on the familiars, which were all too content to ignore her. Mami said that this occasionally happened, and she felt lucky for it, but was sure that the witch wouldn't be so accommodating. Summoning her tonfa, she carefully gripped them, taking a slow, deliberate swing with her right hand before nodding to herself.

"That isn't going to work." The girl jumped, turning in mid-air and catching sight of Homura standing calmly behind her.

"H… how did you get in here?" she demanded, her grip tightening on her weapons.

"I'm not here to fight," Homura didn't answer her question. "This witch is unusual. Mami Tomoe couldn't handle it, and in your current state you definitely can't."

"I can't let you go in there," Rei said, raising her tonfa. "You might try and hurt Kyubey again, or Sayaka."

The black haired girl winced. "I'm here to fight the witch," she answered. "Even if I wanted to take the city and harvest grief seeds, hurting civilians for no reason would be pointless, right?"

"I… guess," Rei admitted.

"And you aren't prepared to fight a witch. If you want to come with me and help your friend that's fine, but I am hunting this one."

The pigtailed girl clenched her teeth. She didn't like it, especially with what Mami had said, but she had no idea what Homura was capable of. "Fine, let's go," she said, beginning to walk again.

After about thirty seconds of uncomfortable silence, Homura spoke up. "I'm not trying to trick you. Everything I've told you is true."

"I don't want to hear it," Rei replied. "Let's just get this done."

["Ummm… you almost here yet?"] Sayaka called nervously. ["This thing's starting to get twitchy!"]

["We're getting close,"] Rei responded, looking down at the guiding blue light of her ring. ["It shouldn't take more than a minute or so."]

["Wait, we?"] Sayaka demanded. ["I thought you said Mami wasn't coming? You didn't bring Madoka in here, did you?"]

["No…"] Rei trailed off, shooting a glance back at Homura, who was following her quietly. ["Just hold on."]

It turned out to take less time than Rei thought to reach the center of the labyrinth, where Sayaka and Kyubey were hiding behind a half-wall, looking into a large, brightly lit room. "You brought her with you?!" Sayaka asked incredulously as she caught sight of the dark haired girl trailing behind the redhead.

"I didn't really have a choice," Rei frowned. "Starting a fight with her in here after Kyubey told us to use minimal magic would have been bad…" She looked down. "Even if I did have a chance to win."

"As I said to Miss Asuka," Homura said, looking steadily at the blue haired girl, "I'm only here for the witch."

Sayaka gave her a dubious look, but said no more as the other girl leapt into the large room beyond, followed by Rei. "...This is the big threat?" the redhead asked, staring across at the tiny red clown-faced doll that sat on a cushion across from them.

Homura only responded by pulling a hefty looking pistol from behind the shield on her left arm and firing several bullets into the creature. It flew back with the first shot, each consecutive one propelling it into a wall, where it convulsed. For a moment Rei was actually feeling a little bad for the poor thing, until it opened its mouth wide and a huge black worm-like creature with red dots along its sides burst from it, far larger than the original.

Homura immediately leapt towards it, though it looked as if her arc would put her directly into the thing's opening mouth. Rei tried to leap to intercept, but instead caught her right foot on an outcropping on the ground, watching helplessly as the witch's mouth closed around the other magical girl… and she re-appeared on a nearby platform. The witch tilted its head as though confused, before its cheeks violently bulged outward, smoke gushing from its mouth.

Its mouth opened once again, producing another full head which lunged at Homura again. From her position on the ground, Rei watched this occur several times, before she suddenly found herself in a different place, falling towards Homura before everything went black. A moment later, she watched as one final explosion destroyed the creature and the labyrinth began to fade. "Okay, that was cool," Sayaka called as the redhead picked herself up from the ground, brushing her clothes off.

"...Yes," Rei said, slowly. "Thanks for your help."

The dark haired girl didn't respond for a moment, bending down to pick up the grief seed that lay where the witch had vanished. She gave the two girls a long look as footsteps could be heard heading in their direction, before turning and walking quickly off.

"How did you guys get all the way over here?" Madoka asked, just as the other girl exited eyesight.

"Well, we were in a magical alternate dimension," Sayaka replied. "We should probably be glad ending up on the other side of the building's the worst that happened to us. What I want to know is why Miss Dark-and-Creepy decided to help us."

"I really don't think she's so bad," Madoka shook her head. "She seems kind of sad and lonely."

"Well maybe she'd be less lonely if she wasn't so creepy," Sayaka opined. "It's like she's TRYING to act like the mysterious transfer student or something, and the whole maybe brainwashing people thing…"

"Well I don't think she's going to help us again," Rei said reluctantly. "Mami's not here so we won't be patrolling tonight."

"That's at least sort of good," Madoka said. "Sayaka skipped her homework for last night's."

"Hey, it was important right?" the blue haired girl insisted.

"Yeah, but now we can catch up on it at my place," Madoka replied. "Come on! Rei, do you want to come too?"

The redhead shook her head. "No, you two go on," she said, watching as the others waved and walked off. Stepping to the side of the concrete path they'd found themselves on when the labyrinth had vanished, she slumped down on a bench there. "Well, that was embarrassing," she grumbled.

"You may just lack combat capability in exchange for your shield," she looked up at the voice to see Kyubey sitting on the edge of the bench next to her before looking away hurriedly.

"That doesn't seem like much of a fair trade to me," she replied. "So if Mami's not around, I'm useless? If Homura hadn't shown up when she did…"

"Perhaps you're meant to work with other magical girls?" the little creature offered. "If one of the others were to contract, you could work with any of them as well."

"Maybe," she smiled, patting Kyubey on the head without turning towards him. "I like that I have all of these friends now, I guess. It's just… something feels… wrong."

HR.

Kyoko salivated as she walked down the street. "I forgot to be specific, I wonder what kind of cake it is?" she said to herself. "...Actually, I forgot about the size, too. I hope I don't show up and find a white cupcake with vanilla frosting. Nah, Mami'd never do that… would she?" She shook her head. Why was she getting so damned excited over a cake? Granted, she hadn't been able to get ahold of a fresh one in over six months, but still. Turning and entering Mami's building, a sense of nostalgia grew in her before she pushed it down. She was here to do a job, nothing else.

Making her way to the blonde's door, she knocked on it firmly. Muffled voices came from the other side for a moment, before it opened to reveal another redhead looking back at her. Blue eyes met red for a second before the other girl staggered back, bringing up a hand to cover her left eye protectively.

"Um… that was new," Kyoko said blandly.

"Oh, sorry," the girl lowered her hand and blushed. "You're Kyoko, right? The person Mami said could help me? I'm Rei, it's nice to meet you."

"That's me," she replied shortly. "My cake in there?"

"Um, in the kitchen?" Rei said uncertainly, the taller girl brushing past her. Spotting Mami pulling a strawberry topped confection out of the fridge, she smiled.

"Hello Kyoko," the blonde nodded at her. "I've got your first payment ready." She smiled back, obviously amused. "You didn't have to be so rude to Rei, though."

"So she's your new student, huh?" Kyoko asked, after a moment of studying the cake. Picking up a knife, she began to cut a piece. "Kinda looks like me, just…" She gestured at her chest. "Little freaky though, when she saw me she just started grabbing at her eye then said she was fine."

Mami frowned, stepping past Kyoko as she got her first slice on a plate. "Did you see something again?" She asked.

"Yeah," Rei said. "I was fighting with her for some reason and she stabbed me in the eye."

"Wait, I did what?" the taller redhead demanded.

"That's why I asked for your help," Mami explained. "She keeps having halucinations of magical girls attacking her. Sometimes they even get more involved, like one where she saw someone turn into a witch."

Kyoko looked over at the blonde after swallowing a bite of cake. "Woah, that's pretty freaky."

Mami nodded. "Shortly after it started happening, a magical girl named Homura arrived. She claimed to be trying to help us, but attacked Kyubey several times and had a story very similar to the things Rei was seeing."

"Okay…" Kyoko said slowly, "Is it possible that she was telling the truth? I mean I don't wanna think about someone turnin' into a witch or anything, but-"

"No," Mami cut her off. "It isn't possible." The look in her eyes was very flat.

Kyoko finished off the last of her slice and stood. "Okay, but like I said, I have no idea if this is going to do anything," she said. "I gotta ask, though, why do you think my old abilities had anything to do with screwing with the mind?"

"I was curious how they worked," Mami explained, "So once I took a camera and tried to take a picture. Our outfits, my ribbons and guns came out fine, but the picture didn't pick up your illusions at all."

"That seems like… pretty flimsy reasoning," Kyoko said, but then shrugged. "Still, I get cake even if I fail, so you alright with this, Rei?"

The shorter redhead nodded. "I want to find out what's going on, and if there's any chance you can help then I'll take it."

"No pressure or anything," Kyoko muttered, stepping towards the other redhead and invoking her transformation. Summoning her soul gem into her hand, she held it up to the other girl's face and closed her eyes. 'Okay, so how do I do this?' she asked, her magic extending cautiously outwards from the gem until it encountered something. It couldn't be that hard, just like using her powers to do something she couldn't do instinctively, all she had to do was picture what she wanted… 'but how the hell did you picture find out if someone's screwing with this girl's head?'

As if that thought had triggered it, which it probably had, a lattice of sparkling blue light expanded in front of her. "Huh, well that's something," she muttered.

"What is it?" Mami asked, causing her to flinch and the image in her mind to wobble.

"Damn it, don't distract me!" she snapped. "I'm surprised this is working at all!" She began tracing the lines she saw, though there were so many of them that doing so for each one would probably take a lifetime. Deciding to change tactics, she began to look at the wider picture, searching for anything that just looked wrong… and almost immediately found it. "What the hell?" she breathed, her view moving closer to a tangle of lines, caught up and folded in on themselves by lines of purple.

"Think I see something," she said, willing her magic back into her soul gem and opening her eyes. "It's just… I think it's suppressing something, more than changing it."

"Suppressing something?" Mami asked, concerned. "Suppressing what?"

"I don't know," Kyoko shrugged helplessly. "Something! Do I have to tell you I don't know what I'm doing again?"

"Well, I did lose my memory," Rei offered. "I can't remember anything about my life before two years ago, and I can't even remember how I became a magical girl. Could that be it?"

"That makes some sense," Mami said uncertainly. "Even if we can't discover what Homura's doing, we could be able to get your memory back! That would be wonderful!"

"Hey, wait," Kyoko said, putting her hands up. "Screwing with her memory's not exactly what I signed on for here! Besides, we're just guessing about if that's it."

"Can you? Release what's being suppressed, I mean," Rei clarified.

"I don't know," Kyoko winced. She was starting to sound like a broken record. "I could try, but it seems pretty-"

"Do it." The blonde and taller redhead both blinked.

"Rei?" Mami asked.

"I've always been curious about what happened to me," Rei said, "But also… I think I knew how to fight before. My strength and the way I move sometimes wouldn't make any sense if I didn't. I… I don't want to have to just sit there and rely on you, or even worse, Homura like I did yesterday."

"I can… actually sorta respect that," Kyoko nodded. "Okay, let's do this before I change my mind." Mami opened her mouth, but then closed it and stepped back, looking worried as the two redheads closed their eyes again. Kyoko was able to find the problematic spot easily enough, knowing where to look. "Okay, here goes," she muttered, shaping her magic into a familiar form, a long speer appearing out of nothingness. She brought it down like an axe across the purple threads, though nothing happened aside from Rei groaning in pain.

"Keep going," the other girl said, though by this point Kyoko had no intention of stopping, bringing the speer around and striking again, pouring much more magic into the attack this time. Rei screamed, and the purple thread parted with a flash of light, the blue that was once bound and surrounded by it lashing out randomly. She thought nothing of this until she realized that it was somehow wrapping around her. Frantically, she tried to pull back before everything went black.

HR.

Her head hurt. Where was she? It didn't feel like her tent, or the futon at the Dojo. Wait, she didn't bother with a tent, too much of a pain in the ass, and why would she sneak into a dojo? Martial artists would probably be too difficult to fool, like Ucchan. "Rei, Rei! Are you alright?" She heard a panicked voice. She was Rei, right? Or… was she Ranma? No, that wasn't right… "I told you this was a shit idea," she croaked, opening her eyes to see another girl sprawled out next to her, Mami worriedly crouching by them. "Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"Kyoko?" Mami hurriedly stood, walking around to her. "What happened?"

"I fixed her memory… I think," the red eyed redhead said, sitting up. "Got caught in the backlash somehow… did you know she used to be a guy?"

"She was a wha…" Mami trailed off, looking at her incredulously.

"Some sort of magic curse," Kyoko explained, looking over at the other redhead strangely. "Some of the stuff I saw… well, we fight witches, and the bird guy who ripped his wings off and lit them on fire before throwing them was about on par."

"Are you… sure you're all right?" Mami asked slowly.

"I'm fine," Kyoko responded, struggling to her feet. "I just saw a bunch of images of her life. She's the one who's gotta deal with actually getting the memories back. Could use some more of that cake, though."

"So, you said she was a boy?" Mami asked. "Is that what her wish was about?"

"No, she actually liked being a boy," Kyoko answered. "Her wish…" She twitched. "Wait, that doesn't…" She twitched again. "Um, Mami… I think you're wrong, I think that other girl was right about us turning into witches."

"What? That's impossible!" the blonde yelled. "Besides, Kyubey told me it wasn't true."

"And Kyubey's a manipulative little shit," Kyoko growled. "I knew that before, sorta, but now… I mean, hell, why's something like that so hard to believe? We're magical girls, it's not like there are any hard and fast rules about this stuff. And neither of us have actually let our soul gems darken to find out, right? Which, by the way, there's no way in hell I'm doing."

"But… how would she know?" Mami demanded, her voice shaking. "She only just became a magical girl!"

"Not exactly," Kyoko shook her head. "This is freaking me out a bit, but she…. has lived through this month before. That's where all of the freaky flashbacks were coming from, it was from the last time… which means I actually stabbed out her eye…"

"You aren't making any sense!" Mami yelled. "Did whatever Homura did to Rei affect you when you tried to help her!?"

"Homura's power is time manipulation!" Kyoko shot back. "She can't screw with anyone's mind!"

"N… no," Mami stammered, her face going pale. "If that was true, then it would mean…"

"It'd mean what?" Kyoko asked, stepping closer to the obviously upset older girl.

"It would mean… that... " Mami's voice was shaking now, as she invoked her transformation.

"Wha…" Kyoko asked as a musket materialized inches from her chest, the report deafening her. She spent almost a second wondering why she hadn't felt the pain before realizing that she was falling sideways, her leg knocked out from under her by a strike just below the knee. Her presence of mind returning, she rolled with the fall and summoned her spear, looking around rapidly.

"What the hell'd you do?" Rei, or rather Ranma, demanded as she scrambled to her feet, a barrier snapping up around the two as several more musket shots rang out, bouncing off of it.

"I don't know!" Kyoko called back. "Mami, what's going on?!"

Mami said nothing, instead raising her hand, coils of ribbon raising with it and forming into a massive, short-barreled cannon, light building within its maw. "Tiro Finale!"

The blast slammed into the shield, its reflected energy scouring the apartment's floor and slamming the kitchen table into a wall, but the barrier held. Seeing this, she frowned, forming several muskets that fired into the shield once again.

"Mami, stop and tell us what's goin' on!" Ranma yelled.

"If magical girls become witches," the blonde said, her eyes tearing up, "then we all have to die!"

"What? That's bullshit!" Kyoko yelled as another wave of fire crashed down on them. "Can this shield hold up?"

"Probably," Ranma nodded, "but even if it does, she's gunna exhaust herself and go witch."

"Um, she's trying to kill us," Kyoko snarled. "I don't really care!"

"You wanna cut the crap?" Ranma snapped. "We're gunna have to knock her out."

"With how much fire she's putting into the air?" the taller redhead asked incredulously.

"You give me enough monkeybars to swing on, I can take care of that," the pigtailed martial artist smirked.

"...Okay, ready," Kyoko said, gripping her spear tightly. As Mami prepared her next volley of shots, the shield snapped off and Ranma charged forward, ramming into the blonde girl and pushing into and through the wall.

As she fell into open air, Kyoko came through the hole behind her, lengths of chain whipping out from her spear, lashing themselves to any surfaces they could get a hold of. After several seconds, there was a latticework of chain connecting the apartment building they'd just smashed their way out of and the one next to it.

Ranma pushed herself away from Mami just as the other girl summoned a musket right between the two, the ball flying past her nose, and caught herself on one of the chains. She began to flip from chain to chain, keeping inches ahead of the muzzles of the other girl's weapons, bullets occasionally getting close enough that they ruffled her clothes. "You're not makin' any sense," she said in a tone that was far too casual for the situation as she continued twisting out of the way of shots. "So we turn into witches if we lose all our power, y'know there'd still be witches without us, right?"

Mami ignored this, deciding to move herself, leaping onto the chain bridges, engaging the martial artist at close range. Normally this would be a horrible idea, but her ability to summon muskets anywhere around herself, pointing in any direction hindered most of Ranma's options that weren't lethal. "Come on, think about it!" the redhead continued. "You kill us, then what? You go hunting more magical girls? Then who's huntin' the witches that are already there and keeping them from goin' out of control when you're done?"

"I have to do this!" Mami cried as Ranma pushed off of the building wall, flying straight towards her. She summoned one musket this time, aiming for the soul gem at the other girl's throat. Ranma managed to somehow twist in mid-air, the bullet missing her neck but carving a nasty gash down her back. The blonde girl was about to summon more weapons again when a chain coiled around her body, tightening.

"Got'cha!" Kyoko yelled, tugging the broach that contained Mami's soul gem free from her hair.

"Took you long enough," Ranma complained as the blonde struggled in her binds. When yet another musket materialized, Kyoko held up the soul gem broach, raising her spear next to it threateningly.

"Don't make me do it," she said, glaring into Mami's eyes.

The blonde's head slumped to her chest. "But we have to," she said quietly. "We're witches…"

"No, we turn into witches," Kyoko replied. "This is pathetic. When we worked together, you weren't nearly this lame. You told me that you worked to save people to make up for the second chance you were given. Sure, you were dumb, but you weren't lame. Are you tellin' me that just because you might become a witch some day, all those people just don't count?"

"But I-" Mami started, but was cut off, this time by Ranma.

"She's right," the shorter redhead said. "Even though she doesn't kill familiars like we do, Kyoko's got to have saved hundreds of people from witches, and us goin' nuts and killing people's not an automatic thing. As long as we're not dumb about usin' our magic we'll be fine."

"I… it's still too big a risk," Mami shook her head. "If I killed one person, I'd…"

"Oh for God's sake…" Kyoko growled. "Now I kinda wanna smash this thing."

"You're not gunna kill one person," Ranma replied, ignoring Kyoko's outburst. "I won't let ya. You just gotta remember to return the favor, just… not unless I go witch, okay?"

"Same goes here I guess," Kyoko shrugged. "It'd get someone another grief seed at least."

"I… can't believe you're promising to kill me and it's making me feel better," Mami laughed, though it sounded a little off.

"That's about par for the course so far," Ranma responded. "I think we can let her go now."

Kyoko looked a little uncertain, but willed the chains binding Mami away. When the blonde didn't immediately attack, she handed the soul gem over.

"So what do we do now?" Mami asked, looking completely lost.

"Gettin' the hell outta here would probably be good," Kyoko replied. "We're already being watched by a few people, and Miss Subtle over there blowing out an apartment wall's going to draw in more."

"You had a better plan?" Ranma asked irritably.

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "There was a window six feet to the left, Shampoo."

"I… that's gunna take a lot of getting used to," Ranma shook her head as the three leapt away from the building, the lattice of chains they'd been fighting on vanishing into red sparks.

HR.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you." Ranma stopped as Kyoko called to her, looking back down the street. Mami had left a few minutes earlier, going back to her apartment to recover a few things she needed. Ranma just hoped that her mother wouldn't be too mad when they showed up at the front door with a suitcase. "I saw a lot of your memory when I did that thing to unlock it."

"I kinda figured," Ranma nodded. "What with you knowing about Shampoo and all."

Kyoko seemed hesitant. "I... wanted to know, did you see anything from my side?"

"About your wish?" Ranma winced. "Yeah, I saw it. Honestly I think your dad's probably worse than mine."

"I've seen your dad," the taller redhead glared.

"Look, the guy burnt down his house with his family inside just 'cuz he found out you were using magic," Ranma said bluntly. "No matter what, someone who does that ain't stable to begin with. It's not all your fault."

"It isn't…" Kyoko bit off and turned, walking away. "Look, just drop it. I'll see you around," she tossed over her shoulder.

END.

Kyoko: Wow, you guys caved to pressure so hard I think there's a new canyon somewhere. Not that I don't think it's a good idea, but still.

Weebee: We didn't, this was exactly what we were planning… more or less…

Kyoko: Oh, and you didn't shove it forward a few chapters? I totally believe you.

Jonakhensu: I can truthfully say we did not shove it up a few chapters.

Homura: With contempt. No, they shoved it up one.

Weebee: How did you know that?

Homura: With dim over-enthusiasm. I can see the fuuuture.

Sayaka: Hey that's right! Can you tell me if I'll get any better plotlines in this fic?

Homura: With dim over-enthusiasm. You are doomed to a fuuuture of mediocrity, pain and eternal suffer occasionally interrupted by death and insanity.

Madoka: So Homura watched the anime?

Sayaka: Relax pillhead, she's just screwing with me.

Homura: With a sincerity such that skepticism would be deeply insulting. No I'm not.

Mami: That was close! If I killed all of you, how would we go racing? Still need to teach the Elcor to drive stick, though…

Homura: Plaintively. But I know about the-

Mami: If you say 'Prindle' one more time, I swear I'll…

Homura: Prindle.

Authors: ...We're gettin' while the gettin's good, folks. Hope you had fun, and don't forget to-

Mami: Tiro Finale!

Authors: Review… Damn it, not again!

*Static*


	13. Chapter 13: Young, Dumb and Ugly

Hey. We know FFN's word counter's going to lie in our favour, but this chapter's actually about 45 words below our minimum limit. Sorry about it being so short (Since most of them are a good bit above said limit), but we decided we liked the ending point and filler for filler's sake is bad, so… yeah. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13: Young, Dumb and Somewhat Attractive.

"This is… a surprise," Suzuka said slowly as she looked over her daughter and the blonde girl who stood next to her, carrying a bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah," the redhead scratched the back of her neck. "There was an accident at Mami's place. I thought maybe she could stay here for a while."

"I don't mean to impose," Mami said quietly, her tone much more subdued than when she'd come for dinner a few days earlier.

"It isn't a problem at all," the older woman smiled. "Unfortunately all we can offer you is the couch or some blankets on the floor, though."

"That' would be nice, thank you," the girl bowed politely and Suzuka nodded back, stepping back and gesturing the girls into the house.

"Dinner's not ready yet," Suzuka said. "Rei, could you help me get it ready?" The redhead nodded. Mami opened her mouth, but then shook her head and moved to sit on the couch, staring at the television, which was currently off.

When the two entered the small kitchen area, Suzuka looked at her daughter for a long moment and quietly asked, "Rei, what exactly was this accident at her apartment?"

"Nothin' major," the redhead answered. "One of the pipes burst or something, I think."

"I see…" her mother responded dubiously. "It must have been a pretty dramatic explosion, I can see that wound on your back."

"My back…" the redhead reached backwards, feeling along her shoulder blade and wincing. "I, uh, yeah, it was pretty dramatic I guess," she laughed nervously. "We're fine though, really!"

"You aren't very good at lying," Suzuka shook her head. Reaching into the refrigerator, she pulled out some vegetables and passed them over to the younger girl. "Here, start on these while I clean the fish."

"Suzu… I mean Mom, it really wasn't anything serious," the girl said, and by this time the conversation had risen in volume sufficiently that the brown haired woman was rather surprised that Mami was still ignoring it.

Suzuka's eyes narrowed. "You haven't called me by name since a month after you were adopted." A cold lump formed in her stomach. "There's something you're not telling me. You've been talking and moving a bit strangely, too. Please, if something's happened I need to know."

"I… guess you reacted okay last time," Rei said. "Look, it's like this…"

HR.

Ranma darted forward as Suzuka crumpled bonelessly, catching her in her arms and gently moving her over to the couch. "Wow, she didn't react like this last time," the redhead observed, looking her over worriedly.

"I can't believe you told her everything," Mami replied, moving to look over the older woman herself.

"Yeah, well I wasn't really sure I'd be able to keep it hidden anyways," Ranma explained. "I just didn't think it'd happen so quickly."

"I see," Mami said. "You said you told her before and Kyoko said that you've lived this month before… She took it better then?"

Ranma nodded. "She didn't like that I was fighting monsters, but got that I needed to. I didn't know then, but with what I remember now… I think she was a bit proud of me, but it's sorta hard sorting things out. My head's still kinda messed up."

"I noticed," Mami nodded. "You're actually speaking and acting a lot like Kyoko…"

"Nah," Ranma shook her head. "This is actually how I normally act, erm, how I acted before this weird thing with having my memory screwed with, I mean." She paused for a moment, and then continued, "I can speak like this again if you want, but I actually need to think about what I'm saying and how I want to say it. My father always said that talking like a hick made people underestimate you in a fight, and he was pretty much right."

"I… see," Mami responded, slightly disconcerted at how quickly the other girl had changed tone. "I think you should speak whichever way you're most comfortable with."

Ranma nodded and smiled at her. "Well that's good, keepin' that up woulda been a bit of a pain."

The blonde twitched, but then looked for something else to change the topic to. "So, in this… other version of this month, were we partners?" she asked, almost immediately regretting it, especially as Ranma's expression turned dark.

"Um, not exactly," the redhead said, obviously trying to dodge the question.

"Did we fight?" Mami asked. With how much like Kyoko the shorter girl was, it would make some sense.

"You died," Ranma snapped. Mami flinched back, not expecting the vehemence of the exclamation, and then stared at the other girl, shocked. "Long story short, I did something stupid, tried to fight a witch without magic, and you died saving me. I contracted because the witch wasn't dead and needed to be stopped."

"So is that why you didn't go for the kill when we were fighting?" Mami asked quietly. "You felt guilty?"

"Wh… what?" Ranma stammered.

"It was fairly easy to realize that you're better in close quarters combat than I am," Mami explained. "If you'd wanted to kill me I don't think you would have had all that much trouble. It would have been better."

Ranma shook her head. "Except you'd be dead."

"That would probably be better too," Mami looked down. "You were right, deciding to kill all of the other magical girls because they might become witches would hurt more people than it would help, but I-"

"You dieing would be just as bad," Ranma interrupted. "You ever wonder why I ended up repeating a month? There's somethin' coming, a Walpurgisnacht, and I know you know what that is. It'll be here on the 30th, and… me, Homura and Kyoko weren't able to stop it from destroying most of the city."

"So I need to stay long enough to help fight Walpurgisnacht," Mami said, staring down at her ring. "I… can do that, but I need to know, what you said at my apartment, if I begin to change into a witch…"

"I'll be there," Ranma nodded. "You won't get a chance to hurt anyone, I swear as a martial artist."

"I… can accept that for now," Mami said, reluctantly.

Ranma was about to respond when she blinked and sniffed several times. "Crap, I forgot about the fish," she grumbled to herself.

Sniffing as well, Mami could smell something burning in the kitchen. "We should probably get that," she said, standing and heading quickly in that direction.

HR.

Sayaka staggered out of the elevator on the hospital rooftop, moving to the railing at the edge and barely holding back tears. She held the broken remains of a CD player in her left hand, small spatters of blood still covering it. "Kyosuke…" She whispered to herself, looking over the city, the setting sun bathing the buildings in a mixture of orange light and shadows.

"You can help him, you know." She didn't even look back as she heard Kyubey's voice in her head.

"I know," she said quietly. Of course, the price would be high, but right now she'd almost convinced herself that she was willing to pay it. The boy had just recently been told flat out by his doctor that he would never be able to move his hand correctly again, and it seemed likely as he'd smashed the CD player, cutting open his hand, without even flinching from the pain.

"I never really had a passion like that," she said, knowing that the little animal behind her probably didn't care, but needing to talk it out. "When he played it was so beautiful." She laughed. "I don't understand why half the girls in school weren't chasing him. Would it be so bad if I… give something up to make sure that he can keep going?"

"I won't tell you either way," Kyubey responded.

"No," the blue haired girl shook her head. "I guess you won't." The rooftop was silent for several moments before she turned, walking past Kyubey and back towards the door.

HR.

Madoka leaned against the door of the storage room, feeling the vibrations from the other side as people pounded to get in. "Please, get here," she said panickedly under her breath, wondering when Rei and Mami would show up. She yelped as a cloud of smoke flowed in around her feet, emanating from nowhere, before her view of the world was ripped apart, reforming into a chaotic mess of television screens and film strips that she was floating in the center of.

"Somebody, please help me!" she tried to call, but the sound came out as a strangled gasp, familiars swirling around her. One which looked sort of like a TV with lopsided wings flew up in front of her face, and her mind began to turn in on itself as the colors around her inverted. At the same time, five more grabbed her limbs, pulling her apart like taffy. "Why… am I… so useless?" she found herself asking, just before a blade on the end of a chain cleaved the familiars in half. The world snapped in to as much focus as was possible for a witch's domain as a spear-wielding figure dove through the center of it, stabbing or smashing anything that got into range before turning her weapon on the walls themselves, lengthening it to slice a massive hole in the side of one.

"Gah, I hate it when they don't have nice easy to identify bodies!" the red haired girl called, obviously frustrated, the spear tip lashing around in a giant circle under both the girl and Madoka, once more connected by its chain. After about five seconds of this, the labyrinth started to fade out, leaving the two girls standing in the storage room again. "I guess on the plus side they sorta suck at attacking you," the girl said, retracting the spear and resting it on her shoulders as Madoka fell to the floor, panting for breath.

"E… excuse me," Madoka said as the redhead walked over and plucked the grief seed from the ground. "You're a magical girl, right?"

"Hmm?" the other looked over at her and blinked. "Wow, most people aren't nearly that coherent after a witch attack," she started, cleansing her soul gem. "But yeah, I'm a magical girl… and you're… Madoka."

"Y… yes," the pink haired girl stammered. "Have we met?"

"Not… really. I'm Kyoko, by the way. And yeesh, you managed to get involved with witches two days in a row? I should use you as bait!"

"I wouldn't advise that," the two turned to see Homura step through the door, gently nudging an unconscious person aside.

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't, bein' her stalker and all, Homura Akemi," Kyoko nodded.

"I'm sor… what?" Homura asked, her eyes widening a fraction.

"Hmm, I think I want to be the enigmatic one this time," Kyoko smiled, dismissing her spear in a flash of light and withdrawing a bag of gumdrops from a pocket. "I will be around for Walpurgisnacht, just so ya know."

"I… see," Homura said after several seconds of stunned silence. The redhead nodded back to her, and then ran past her out of the storage room, vanishing through one of the warehouse's windows.

Seconds later, Rei and Mami jumped down from a window on the opposite side, landing in the middle of the warehouse and looking around. "Huh, Homura?" the pigtailed girl asked. "I was expecting Kyoko."

"Um, she just left," Madoka interjected, rather confused at what was going on, herself.

"Ah, guess that makes sense," Rei nodded. "You okay?"

Madoka looked herself over, actually a bit uncertain after such a close encounter with a witch. "Yes, but we… we need to help these people!"

"They should recover on their own pretty soon," Mami spoke for the first time. "We might want to change out of our magical girl uniforms before they do." Saying this, she reverted to normal form, followed moments later by Rei.

"Strange, given how you felt about me, I didn't think you would do that so easily," Homura said, following suit.

"Yes, well…" Mami looked down. She was about to speak, when she was interrupted by a loud shout.

"Madoka!" The pink haired girl looked over to see Hitomi struggling to her feet, several of the people around her stirring at the loud noise. "That… was a witch, wasn't it?" the brunette asked, staggering towards the group of magical girls unsteadily. "We almost died! Is… is it gone?" She looked around rapidly as though she could see it.

"It's gone," Rei said, interrupting her frantic search. "You're okay now."

"Oh, thank goodness," Hitomi said, grabbing onto the redhead and starting to sob into her shoulder.

"Um, little help here?" Rei asked, her eyes shifting uncomfortably. "Madoka?"

"I can help get her home," the pink haired girl offered, walking up to the other two and patting the brunette on the back. Rei gently started disentangling their arms, looking very uncomfortable, for some reason.

"Um, could one of the magical girls go with us?" Hitomi asked, quietly.

Rei looked at Homura, who looked back before Mami spoke. "I'll do it," she offered, though she wasn't looking at the group, instead her eyes tracking the other witch victims as they began to regain their senses.

HR.

Homura pondered letting the situation be as Mami, Madoka, and Hitomi walked off, but it was bothering her, especially with what Kyoko had said, given she wasn't even supposed to be here yet, let alone know about Walpurgisnacht. "Something happened," she said, looking over at Rei, who was standing nearby.

"Figured it out, huh?" the redhead frowned. "Look, Homura, I'm sorry for followin' Mami's lead and thinking you were out to get us," she started, playing with her pigtail. "I remember now."

"You… what?" the dark haired girl asked, levelly, though she could feel a slight trembling in her hands.

"I got my memory back, including last time we… damn, tryin' to wrap your head around time travel is confusing," Ranma shook her head. "Me and Mami were bein' pretty dumb."

"I've had worse reactions," Homura responded, wincing at the memory of the last time she'd attempted to tell everyone about what was going on. "Were you the one who told Kyoko?"

"Kinda…" Ranma responded reluctantly. "She's the one who got my memory back. Mami called her in to see if my mind was being screwed with, and she undid some… block or something, but we ended up… sharing a few memories."

"A few?" Homura asked, eyebrow raised.

"A good part of the last two years."

"I see…" The taller magical girl's mind was whirling at a mile a minute. She had Ranma and Kyoko on her side, and it was so early in the month… And Mami was… her train of thought stopped cold. "Mami knows?" At Ranma's nod, she abruptly bolted, time freezing as her shield clicked over.

She ran through the streets after the other magical girl and the two she'd been walking home, reactivating her ability repeatedly as time resumed.

When she caught up to them, she was out of breath, however she relaxed slightly when she realized that Mami was still untransformed and watching Madoka and Hitomi get onto a bus. As the bus pulled out, Mami turned and spotted Homura, making her way over to her.

"You seem panicked," the blonde girl said. "Is something wrong?"

"You've found out about magical girls," the younger girl said, ready to react if the other made any sudden moves.

"Rei told you what happened, hmm?" Mami asked, looking away from Homura. "I can't blame you for being suspicious of me then, I suppose, especially given what you said about Madoka before."

"She didn't tell me anything had happened, actually," Homura shook her head. "Though I'm surprised, she managed to defeat you?"

"She and Kyoko, yes," Mami nodded. "They… well, yelled at me and tied me up." She chuckled slightly at this, though the mirth didn't show in her eyes. "After I shot up my apartment, of course. I'm staying with Rei for now."

'That's it?' Homura thought, making a note to acquire some rope if this loop didn't end well. "All I want to know is if you plan on attacking any other magical girls," she said, bluntly.

Mami shook her head. "Only witches and familiars, just like before… at least until Walpurgisnacht."

"What do you mean by that?" Homura asked, honestly unsurprised that apparently everyone knew about that this time.

"Oh, nothing," Mami said with a soft smile. This one did reach her eyes, but didn't exactly look happy.

["Where the hell are you guys?"] Ranma's annoyed voice came to the two. ["All I know is no one's killed each other yet."]

["We're fine, Rei,"] Mami responded. ["I was just having a conversation with Miss Akemi."]

"["Right…"] Ranma's response was obviously doubtful. ["Madoka and Hitomi okay?"]

["They're fine, though Hitomi seemed very nervous,"] Mami answered.

["If you guys are alright I'm headin' back home. I don't really like leaving Mom unconscious on the couch."]

Homura raised an eyebrow.

"She told her mother all about magical girls," Mami explained, somewhat bemused.

"Yes, that sounds like something she would do," Homura nodded.

"As you say," Mami agreed hesitantly, and the dark haired magical girl turned to leave.

HR.

"So, ya wanted to talk to me?" Sayaka turned from the fence she'd been peering through at the city below as a voice came from the roof entrance.

"Yeah," she responded, turning. "I wanted to ask you a few questions… about being a magical girl. I asked Mami at lunch, but she said she wasn't the best person to talk about it right now and she looked pretty sad. Is... she alright?"

"She's got stuff goin' on," Rei said, walking up to the fence herself. "So, what do ya need to know?"

"Well, why you're talking like that, for starters," the blue haired girl snorted. "You sound like a thug from a bad Yakuza movie."

"I've also got stuff goin' on," Rei replied, shortly.

"Okay," Sayaka said, waving her hand, her expression getting a little more serious. "I… wanted to know. Kyubey said that magical girls couldn't tell about the soul gem thing… that's… really true?"

"Sayaka, you've asked that before," Rei frowned back at her.

"I know, it's just... My wish is really important!" the blue haired girl finally burst out. "He's so miserable, and I can make him better, but I… Last night he said… that now that he can't play anymore he hated the sound of classical music! It's not right! He was so happy, and now… I just want to make him happy again, but I…" Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I can feel the difference," the redhead said, after a few moments of Sayaka's muffled sobs. "The way your energy flows is wrong. When you breathe, the chi that collects in your stomach is supposed to infuse the rest of you, life running through channels to keep you… alive. As a magical girl, all of those channels are different. They don't run to the stomach anymore, they run here." She held up her hand, showing off her ring. "The thing is, most people don't notice that. Your body moves and feels just the same, so long as your soul gem doesn't get too far away. Pain doesn't affect you as much, either."

"All that chi stuff, where'd you get that from?" Sayaka blinked.

"Part of that stuff that's goin' on," Rei retorted.

"Right, so… as long as I can't feel this chi, the only difference is that I won't feel as much pain if I stub my toe?" Sayaka asked, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"Or get your eye gouged out," Rei said, bluntly. "Kyubey claims it's so we can fight witches, and I guess that makes sense, but… you wouldn't be askin' all this if you weren't thinkin' about it, right?"

"I… want to help Kyosuke," the blue haired girl said, quietly.

"You're not really suited to it." Rei winced. "That's how Homura explained it, and she was right."

Sayaka snorted incredulously. "You're actually trusting her?!"

Rei nodded. "Yeah. Pretty sure you're not gunna believe this, but the stuff that happened was that I found out she was tellin' the truth. My memory'd been screwed with somehow. We DO turn into witches if we run out of magic, and… you'd turn really fast."

"Why would I turn fast?" Syaka demanded, now glaring at the redhead. "I bet I could do it just fine!"

"You think of us as zombies, soulless monsters," Rei snapped back, her mostly calm demeanor giving way to obvious irritation. "Hell, for all I know you're right, but you also think that means we should just lay down and die!"

"N… no, I don't think that about you and Mami at all!" Sayaka denied, heatedly.

Rei shrugged. "If you're being honest, and can extend it to yourself, you could probably contract to save Kyosuke's hand. Just think about it for a long time, alright? There's no turnin' back, and it ain't a good idea."

"Yeah… I guess not," Sayaka said as the redhead turned and left the rooftop.

HR.

"I see, you want to make a contract," Kyubey said as he sat on the sidewalk, looking the girl before him over carefully.

Hitomi clenched a fist for a moment before nodding. "That's right."

"I didn't select you, you know," the small white creature said, waving its tail back and forth. "As a magical girl you would have little power, and you wouldn't be able to have a large wish granted."

"I… thought that would be the case, yes," the olive haired girl acknowledged. "I just… a magical girl can't be controlled by a witch, like I was last night, right?"

"No, a magical girl can't be affected by a witch's kiss." Kyubey tilted his head slightly. "Is that why you want to contract?"

"Yes," Hitomi nodded again. "Before I thought it wasn't so bad, even when I knew these things existed. I thought the magical girls could protect us, but last night I came so close to dieing… If Madoka hadn't shown up and stopped that woman from poisoning us all, we would…"

The little animal considered her for a moment. "You want to contract out of fear. That's unexpected, but probably not a wise decision. As I said, as a magical girl you would have little power. You couldn't hunt witches by yourself and your soul gem would still need to be cleaned."

"I thought you wanted more magical girls?" Hitomi asked, obviously frustrated.

"We do," Kyubey agreed. "And contracting you would help our goals slightly, but it would probably do much better in the end if you remained as an uncontracted human, for both of us."

"No…" Hitomi said, standing. "I won't let that happen again! I want you to contract with me, please!"

"Alright," Kyubey nodded. "Have you thought of a wish?"

"I…" Hitomi slumped. "I knew I forgot something. Um… I wish I knew what to wish for?"

Kyubey just gave her a deadpan look and shook his head. "Given that you only have one wish, that would be extremely foolish… and below the power requirements."

"...Oh," she muttered. "I wish for a pet kitty that my parents would let me keep."

"That wish… will work," Kyubey said, surprised. "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

"Yes!" Hitomi exclaimed energetically.

Kyubey stepped backwards, his hand-like ears rising up as a bright glow began to build. Plunging them forward, they entered her chest and she fell back against the bench, gasping in pain as a soul gem formed in mid-air before her. "There, accept it." Kyubey said. "This is your destiny."

Hitomi reached out, hands clasping around the gem.

END.

Homura: Annoyed. Why are you trying to steal my shtick?

Kyoko: 'Cuz maybe that way I could get some more screen time?

Mami: I don't know why you want more screentime so badly. The magical girl with the most in this series is Sayaka, and everyone thinks she's a whiney bitch.

Sayaka: Hey!

Mami: I mean, think about it, I hardly get any screen time past an episode and a half, and everyone thinks I'm a super-badass cool big sis!

Madoka: Weren't you complaining about it just as much as Kyoko before?

Rei: Madoka, that really isn't healthy…

Madoka: Wait, what the hell? Not you too! you're not even supposed to be in here! You were never IN Meduka Meguka! You're not even a real character!

Rei: Gah! Madoka's taking out her drunken violence on me!


	14. Chapter 14: Kryptonite

Hello folks, and welcome. Just a quick note. Hitomi's magical girl form was shamelessly stol… inspired by a fanart image on the Madoka Magica wiki, by Nyan00. We sent a message asking permission to use said design, but that was a year ago and we haven't gotten a response one way or the other, so we just said 'screw it' and went with it.

Thank you, and enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 14: Kryptonite

"Okay, so what's really going on here?" Sayaka asked, glaring at Homura across the table from where she stood behind Rei and Mami.

All three girls looked over at her before Rei spoke. "What's really goin' on with what?"

"Come on," the blue haired girl frowned. "First Mami warns us that the goth girl's got mind control powers, then Rei starts talking like a punk, and now you're all eating together. So what, did she get you or something?"

"I'm not controlling anyone," Homura said, a small note of irritation creeping into her voice.

"But that's exactly what you'd say if you were, isn't it?!" the blue haired girl demanded, pointing authoritatively.

"No, she'd probably just brainwash you," Rei interjected. "It's not true, like I said there's stuff goin' on, but even if it was, what's your plan? Confront a bunch of mind-controlled magical girls and wing it?"

"Erm…" Sayaka stepped backwards a little bit. "L-look, I…"

"I was wrong." She stopped backing up as Mami spoke for the first time, turning and smiling at her. "I made a few bad assumptions, you really don't have to worry about Miss Akemi."

"I dunno…" Sayaka narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Seems like a pretty quick turnaround to me."

"Look, it's…" Ranma started, before Homura cut her off.

"Something we can't explain here," the dark haired girl jerked her head to the side. The others turned to follow her glance, spotting Hitomi walking across the cafeteria, Kyubey riding on her shoulder.

Sayaka was about to ask why that mattered, when the olive haired girl waved at them and Rei muttered a curse. "Is that…" the redhead asked, quietly.

Homura nodded, her expression troubled.

"Okay, what am I missing here?" the blue haired girl asked.

"She's contracted," Rei answered.

Sayaka blinked. "I thought you guys said she didn't have the power for that."

"She doesn't," Homura confirmed, as the olive haired girl came into easy earshot of the group.

"Um, hello everyone," she said nervously. "I just… wanted to tell you that I'm a magical girl now." She held up her left hand, showing off the green jeweled ring. "I thought that you could help me learn how to do things, and…"

"So what did you wish for?" Sayaka demanded.

Hitomi looked down, blushing slightly and scuffing her shoes. "I wished to have a cat."

"You what?" The question was nearly completely flat, and strangely it didn't come from anyone Sayaka was expecting. Mami was almost glaring at the olive haired girl.

"Well, I… it was all I could think of," Hitomi began rambling quickly. "After I was attacked by that witch, I was so scared, and I knew that magical girls couldn't be affected by them, and Kyubey told me that I didn't have the power for a large wish, and…"

"You… wished to become a magical girl to be protected from witches?" Homura asked incredulously.

"Yes?" Hitomi asked nervously, the expressions around the table obviously unsettling her.

"You…" Mami opened and closed her mouth several times, before bursting out with. "You idiot!"

"What?" Hitomi asked, stepping back slightly.

"Of all the short-sighted, irresponsible, suicidal things you could possibly chose to contract for, you managed to pick the most foolish one possible!" Students from nearby tables began to look over as the blonde yelled. "How could you even think of…"

"Mami," Rei rested a hand on the taller girl's shoulder.

Mami stopped, taking a deep breath. "I… have to go.," she snapped, standing and brushing past Sayaka on her way out of the room.

"What was that?" the blue haired girl asked, amazed as Hitomi's eyes welled with tears. Rei opened her mouth, but she raised her hand before the older girl could speak. "If you say 'stuff's goin' on,' I'm going to hit you."

"I would like to know as well," Kyubey chipped in. "Mami Tomoe doesn't normally act at all like that."

Rei looked between the door that was swinging closed behind Mami and the confused and hurt Hitomi, before her shoulders slumped. "We'll talk after class, I promise, but I've gotta go after her. Just… Hitomi, it's all… not as bad as she said, okay? You'll be fine." As the redhead dashed off after the blonde, Sayaka turned to Homura.

"I don't suppose you're going to explain any of this," the blue haired girl asked, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Would you believe me if I did?" Homura asked, cooly.

Sayaka sighed. "At this point I have no idea."

"Excuse me, what's going on over here?" Madoka's confused voice came from behind Sayaka. "Hitomi, are you all right?"

Sayaka sighed again. "Stuff's definitely goin' on." She then quite deliberately smacked herself in the cheek.

HR.

"So, you feelin' better?" Mami looked up at the voice to see Ranma standing on the short wall that surrounded the edge of the roof she was sitting on.

Looking back to her hands, where she was holding her soul gem, she shook her head. "No, not really."

"Funny, just lettin' go and calling my old man all the names I'd been savin' up usually made me feel a lot better," the redhead commented, stepping down and crouching next to her. "Then again maybe Hitomi didn't deserve that much of a blasting, even if she was bein' stupid."

"I'm not sure who I'm angry at," Mami said, "But it definitely isn't Hitomi… mostly."

"Yeah," Ranma nodded. "I get that. Still, you might want to apologize to her or somethin'."

"You're right," Mami stood abruptly, starting to head for the edge of the roof.

"Wait!" Ranma called out. "Not yet."

"Hmm?" The blonde looked over her shoulder, just barely bringing a hand up in time to catch a tonfa. "What's this?"

Ranma drew a second of the magical weapons from her soul gem and threw it to the other girl, before returning it to ring form. "Know what else cheers me up?" she asked, rocking back on the balls of her feet. "A good fight."

"You… can't be serious," Mami looked down at the weapons in her hands.

Ranma shrugged. "No transforming, no walls of guns, just the two of us."

Mami shook her head. "And you'll beat me senseless."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "And that's what holdin' back is for."

"I… I suppose I shouldn't discount it until I try it," Mami said reluctantly.

HR.

"Why did I think this was worth trying?" Mami mumbled into the concrete as Ranma crouched next to her, before rolling painfully onto her back.

"Well, at least you're not angry anymore," the redhead offered, rubbing her own arms where her opponent's strikes had landed.

"Too tired," the taller girl mumbled, her eyes slowly tracking a cloud that was rolling across the sky. She wasn't telling the truth, at least not entirely. She could still feel anger at Hitomi's stupidity burning in the back of her mind, and Ranma's solution of beating on her until it went away hadn't really helped. On the other hand, the fact that the other magical girl had tried in a clumsy way sort of had. "You actually did this for fun? Without magic to heal?"

"Yeah," Ranma shrugged. Mami was about to respond, when the other girl's phone rang. "Oh," Ranma went pale as she looked at the screen. "We did run outta school in the middle of lunch, huh?" Reluctantly, she answered it, beginning to talk nervously.

HR.

"I don't understand what was so important about this that you two had to leave school at lunch without notifying me about it," Suzuka grumbled as she took a moment to give her adopted daughter a disapproving look in the rear view mirror.

"I think you'll see when we get there," Ranma replied.

["Where are we going?"] Mami asked. ["And why did you tell her that we were going there rather than what really happened?"]

["Because with how bothered she is about what's been happening with me, I figured she didn't need to know what's happening with you,"] Ranma responded. ["Besides, I do need to check on this."]

["Check on what?"] Mami asked.

"All right, here we are," Suzuka said as the car slid to a stop several feet away from a sign that said 'Welcome to Nerima.' "Now what's this all about?"

Ranma got out of the car, slipping her soul gem ring off of her finger. "Well, this place has to do with the second half of my wish," she explained."Basically I wished that witches and magical girls couldn't touch this place, but that was… last time."

"Last time this month reset, you mean," Suzuka said as she climbed out as well, looking dubious.

"Yeah," Ranma nodded, stepping forward and holding up the ring in front of her. "I wanted to see if it still…" She suddenly jerked to a halt. "...damn," her shoulders slumped.

"What is it? Suzuka asked, walking up to her. Ranma just handed her the ring, gesturing at a point in empty air, which she promptly used the ring to bang on like a solid wall. "I… oh. Is this some sort of trick or something?" She tapped the ring against the invisible wall again, then moved her other hand through it effortlessly.

Ranma shook her head. "Witch and magical girl magic is the same, and neither can enter the district, so… yeah," she shrugged.

"It's a shame Hitomi didn't know that," Mami said distantly, walking up to the barrier with her own ring to test it.

"Who?" Suzuka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just someone from school," Ranma said, laughing nervously.

"I see," Suzuka nodded. This is…" She tapped the invisible wall again before handing Ranma back her ring, "interesting, but I still don't see why you couldn't have waited until after school, or asked me to drive you on a day off."

"You're right," Ranma admitted. "I just remembered it, and had to see…"

Suzuka thought for a moment. "Rei, just… don't run off like that again, all right? I obviously can't stop you from this magical girl… thing of yours, just please be careful."

"Don't worry Mom, I'll be fine," Ranma nodded assuredly.

HR.

This was a stupid idea. It was a stupid idea, she didn't need to do this, and this guy… erm… girl had tried to beat her with a giant spatula once. On the other hand, she made really good food. On the first hand, giant spatula. Still, she was marching up to the portable grill of one Ukyo Kuonji, and it wasn't in an attempt to score free food.

"Heya, Kyoko-chan!" the chef called, though the redhead noted that she moved her hand closer to her bandolier of small spatulas.

"Hey, Ucchan," Kyoko waved back, slipping into a seat.

"So, what brings you here today?" Ukyo asked, after looking at her strangely for a moment.

"Well, um…" Kyoko fidgeted with her hands for a moment as Ukyo scooped a cooked Okonomiyaki off of the grill and slipped it onto a plate for a waiting customer. "Remember how you originally came through here looking for that Ranma Saotome guy?"

The brown haired chef stopped just before she was about to pour some more batter onto the grill, setting the bowl down and turning towards her least-paying customer. "You know something?"

"Yeah," Kyoko said reluctantly, "but you're not gunna like it."

Ukyo leaned forward over the counter. "What, did you find his body or something?" Her expression as she asked this was hard to read.

"No, not… exactly," Kyoko continued, looking around and wondering why she hadn't just started running yet. "You remember that time we fought, and I summoned my spear, right?" At Ukyo's nod, she continued, "Well that's magic. Before you deny it," she took off her soul gem ring, growing it to full size in a flash of red light and then shrinking it again, "so's that."

"I… I see," Ukyo stammered.

"Well Ranma's been affected by magic," Kyoko continued. "Basically, he's been turned into a girl, stuck that way, and spent the last two years with no idea who he was."

Ukyo didn't respond for several moments, her expression now even harder to read than before. Kyoko was about to ask if she was all right, when the brown haired chef lunged across the grill, somehow avoiding getting burnt, and tackled her to the ground. "Oh… Oh Ran-chan," she sniffled, "is that really you?"

"The hell?!" Kyoko screeched, virtually teleporting out from beneath the older girl. "What was that for?"

Ukyo looked up at her, hurt and confused. "A… aren't you Ran-chan?"

"Me? That Kung-fu movie reject?" Kyoko snorted. "Where did you get that stupid idea?"

"B… but you called me Ucchan, then you showed me magic and said that Ran-chan had magically been turned into a girl."

"Oh… yeah, I guess I coulda thought that through better," the redhead grumbled, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "As for the 'Ucchan' bit, the reason I know all this is because I sorta ended up in her head for a bit… long story."

"Oh," Ukyo stood, and Kyoko prepared herself to summon chains in case things got weird again. "You have to take me to him!"

"That's… a bad idea," Kyoko shook her head. "What we're doing is pretty dangerous, and besides, the whole engagement thing's pretty much dead. I just thought that someone should tell you so you could get on with your life, you know?"

"I still need to talk to him," Ukyo clenched a fist. "If only to see if what his father said was true. Besides," she smiled a little creepily. "I can pass as a guy, so it might still work."

"You're… kidding, right?" Kyoko gulped. 'She's gunna kill me…'

HR.

"Are you sure about this?" Hitomi stammered, looking around nervously.

"Rei did say that things were all straightened out when she called you, right?" Madoka replied. "I'm sure it'll be fine, and if it isn't, Sayaka and I are here for you."

"Sure thing," Sayaka nodded from Hitomi's other side.

"But I missed piano practice for this, and…" Hitomi worried, twisting her hands nervously.

"You're missing piano practice for training as a magical warrior of love and justice! Priorities, girl!" Sayaka exclaimed, hands on hips.

"I… I guess," Hitomi nodded shakily, the trio walking into the abandoned lot that Rei had told them to meet at.

"Oh hey, they're here," the pigtailed girl said, setting down a barrel she'd been carrying and turning towards them. Mami looked over from where she was balancing a line of cans on a short concrete wall nearby and immediately stood, heading towards the three.

Hitomi looked a little nervous as she approached, but once the blonde was directly in front of them, she bowed. "Miss Shizuki, I'm very sorry for my outburst this morning. I had other things on my mind, and I over-reacted."

Hitomi blinked, surprised. "It's… not a problem, I suppose my wish does seem a little silly."

"Maybe, but reacting like that's a bit much, isn't it?" Sayaka disagreed.

"Given the price of her wish, I don't think so." All three non-magical girls jumped, and Sayaka turned to glare irritably at Homura as she entered the lot.

"What's she doin' here?" Sayaka asked, eyes narrowed.

"I wanted to see what Hitomi could do," Homura explained. "I didn't believe that she would contract."

Sayaka was about to say something, but Rei cut her off. "I'm kinda curious too. Have you transformed yet?" At Hitomi's blank look, she explained, "just focus on your soul gem and will it to do something."

"Okay," Hitomi said, stepping a short distance away from her two friends and closing her eyes. A few seconds later, she was overtaken by green light, re-appearing in a ruffled green dress, its wide base split down the middle with a smaller, ruffled underskirt beneath, her hands and legs from the knee down encased in heavy steel armor. In her hands, she held a very large axe with a slightly bent spike opposite the blade.

Sayaka pumped a fist. "Okay, that's pretty cool."

"Wow," Hitomi said, her tone cheerful. "This feels amazing. Even this axe is so light!" She swung it in the air a few times, smiling.

"You wanna be careful with that thing?" Rei asked, backing away from the olive haired girl.

"Oh, sorry, right." Hitomi said, sheepishly holding the weapon behind her back.

"Sayaka's right though," Madoka chipped in. "You look very pretty."

"It's not about how ya look," Rei snorted. "It's how good you'll be against witches that's important. Mami, you wanna put her through the stuff you did with me?"

The blonde shook her head. "I… think you should take care of this one, Ranma."

The redhead gave her an odd look, but shrugged it off after a moment. "Okay, then first let's see what the magic wants ya to do with that thing." She stepped over to the barrel she'd been moving earlier and tapped on it. "Just attack this."

"Um…" Hitomi tilted her head. "How?"

"Your body'll know what to do, just go," Rei said, stepping back.

Hitomi's eyes narrowed, her expression taking on a look of resolve before she hefted her axe, charging forward as an aura of green light built up along the blade. "Gyaaaa!" she yelled, bringing the thing down on the barrel, causing an explosion of light and sound that sent asphalt and metallic fragments flying from the impact point.

"Well, that… got the job done," Rei said, from next to Madoka and Sayaka, her shield flickering away. "Try to be a bit less… brutal next time, all right? Putting all your force into one attack like that's a good way to over-extend yourself and get killed."

"Oh, I.. I'm sorry," Hitomi stammered, taking in the startled look on Madoka's face.

Sayaka just laughed. "No, that was awesome."

"Awesome or not, we gotta keep going," Rei interjected, selecting a suitable looking spot near the newly formed crater and setting up another barrel. "Again, just remember what I said last time," she ordered.

As Hitomi was raising her axe into position again, Mami spoke. "Wait, stop!" She did so, freezing in that position and looking around at the blonde nervously. "No, drop the weapon," Mami continued. "How much power did you put into that attack?"

"I… I don't know, why?" the newest magical girl stammered nervously, her axe hitting the ground with a clang as the edge cut a groove into the pavement. "I swung it as hard as I could…"

"Mami, what is it?" Rei asked.

"Her soul gem," Mami pointed at the object which hung from a choker around Hitomi's neck. "It's definitely darkened since she transformed."

Rei studied the olive haired girl for a long moment. "Yeah… I think you're right. But… all she did was one attack, why would it darken that fast?"

"Because she doesn't have enough power." Nearly the entire group jumped as Kyubey spoke, stepping out of the shadows near the edge of the lot.

"What do you mean by that, Kyubey?" Madoka asked.

"I mean that she never had the power to become a magical girl. I warned her of that when she demanded that I grant her wish," Kyubey explained. "She almost certainly won't be able to destroy a witch in her state, and unfortunately even without fighting she would probably only last a couple of weeks."

"What kind of stupid deal is that?!" Sayaka yelled. "She turns into a magical girl but can't fight anything and won't make it two weeks?"

"This is why only you and Madoka were asked originally," Kyubey explained.

"I…. I guess you were right, miss Tomoe," Hitomi said, her face pale. "I am an idiot…"

"No," Mami shook her head. "It's… not a problem. We can help you get enough grief seeds, right Ranma?"

"The problem there is that this city contains a limited number of grief seeds, especially since you are killing familiars. Mami, Rei and Homura alone put quite a strain on the supply."

"So that's why you did it?" Homura stood from the wooden box where she'd been observing Hitomi's practice. "I was trying to figure out why you would grant her wish. Were you trying to get us fighting over limited resources? Or maybe hoping that someone like Madoka or Sayaka would contract to save her?"

Kyubey shook its head. "Homura Akemi, I wonder why you keep coming to such conclusions about me. As for Hitomi Shizuki, I granted her wish because she asked it even after I had warned her that it would not be beneficial to her and she continued to insist."

"You what?" Rei asked, looking sidelong at the olive haired girl.

She looked down at her own hands. "He did warn me, yes. I was just so scared that I… made him do it anyways."

"You didn't 'make' that thing do anything," Homura said flatly. "He could have just left you, but he didn't."

"Gotta agree there," Rei nodded. "The squirrel doesn't seem to be forced to grant wishes."

"Squirrel?" Kyubey asked, staring at the redhead for a moment.

HR.

"You just gunna follow me all night, or what?" Ranma asked, turning and crossing her arms.

Homura stepped from the shadows, nodding at her. "I was just ensuring that Mami and the others were far enough away, and Kyubey wasn't following you."

"Guessing you wanna talk about how screwed up things are this time 'round?" Ranma started as Homura began walking and she fell into step.

"Yes, in a way," the black haired girl said, seeming reluctant to continue. "Kyubey is right."

"Now there's one I never thought I'd hear," Ranma chuckled. "Right about what?"

"He's… right about the fact that Hitomi will put a large amount of strain on the local grief seed supply, especially since Kyoko has taken at least one of the ones that will appear."

"So we're gunna have to go on a few trips to other areas, big deal," Ranma shrugged.

"Where we could encounter other magical girls," Homura disagreed. "The risk is…"

"So what do we do, just let her die?" Ranma cut her off.

Homura flinched back for just a moment, before nodding. "She may not have known that we become witches, but she knew the other risks when she contracted."

"That's bullshit, and you know it," Ranma snapped, glaring at the taller girl. Seeing that Homura's expression was unchanging, she looked away, and the two walked in silence for a block or so. "...Besides," she eventually continued "you're not being as ruthlessly practical as you think you are."

"I don't see any other solution," Homura said. "I've seen what happens when we begin running out of grief seeds in the city."

"So this has happened before?" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not exactly this, no," Homura's eyes became distant for a moment. "At one point, Mami, Sayaka, Kyoko and I were all active at once. Sayaka is stronger than Hitomi, but so… wasteful. It ended… badly."

"Still, I think you missed one thing," Ranma shook her head. "I get why you were so nervous about Mami learning about magical girls now. She almost killed me 'n Kyoko, and I still don't think she's that… stable. What do you think's gunna happen when Hitomi goes witch, especially if she has to help put her down?"

Homura looked off past Ranma again for a moment, and then shuddered.

Ranma winced. She'd sort of hoped she'd been wrong about that. "We need Mami," she pushed on regardless, "so that means we keep Hitomi going."

"That… makes a lot of sense," Homura nodded. "But it isn't the reason you're doing it."

"Nah, but it worked on you, right?" The redhead shrugged.

Homura remained silent for a long moment, and then nodded again, reluctantly. "Yes, but… one day, what has to be done may go against your morals, and no rationalizing will fix it. Then what will you do?"

"I'll… figure that out if it happens," Ranma replied evasively.

Homura seemed to accept that, as after a long pause, she removed a large bag from behind her shield and proffered it to the shorter girl. "It's good to have your help."

Ranma shrugged the bag onto her back, happy for the subject change even with how abrupt it was. "We're almost at my place, you wanna come up for somethin' to eat?"

"I'm fine," Homura responded, turning and walking off.

Ranma looked after her for a moment before entering the building. Now that she wasn't talking to the black haired magical girl, her mind began running over ideas, primarily motivated by the small amount of Hitomi's capabilities she'd seen while they'd been training.

"I'm home!" she absently called as she pushed open the door to the apartment.

"Welcome home!" Suzuka called back, though did she sound… nervous? Had the incident earlier in the day spooked her that much, even though Ranma had been sure to call her after the training and tell her she was returning? The redhead frowned. This could be a… Her thoughts were cut off as she entered the living room. Sitting on the couch across from Suzuka were Kyoko, a surprise in itself, and a very familiar looking figure.

"U... Ucchan?" she stammered.

END.

Jonakensu(Singing): Little Kyubey went to lunch riding on Hitomi. Shoved a soul gem in his mouth and called it macaroni.

Weebee: And the worst part is this was BEFORE I showed him that episode of The Brave and the Bold.

Kyoko: You've watched that? I'm surprised you idiots haven't rabbitted off to start writing a crossover with it and abandoned us by now.

Weebee: Nah, our Batman crossover idea is with the 90s animated series.

Kyoko Shouldn't have said anything…

Homura(Irritated): And you're not going to comment on how bad that was.

Jonakhensu: Awww, it wasn't that bad! I could probably do the whole song if it wasn't just for the end notes.

Kyoko: Just waiting for him to let his guard down. Hyah! *Leaps at one of the authors with her spear.*

Homura: Good plan. *Draws BFG 9000*

Jonakhensu: *Starts running while laughing maniacally.*

Weebee: Well, at least he's the one being chased off this time. Thank you for reading, and we hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review and let us know. *Explosion* Let me know.

Jonakhensu: *Runs past, still laughing maniacally.*


End file.
